Evan Crommett is a Hell’s Kitchen based singer-songwriter, sound-tinkerer, and tomato-despiser.
In this interview feature, we chat with Evan about music, influences, his new project, and more.
Full Q&A, links, and streams below.
Who attracted you to this genre/style:
My Dad taught me guitar and my mom taught me to sing along with musicals. Together, they taught me an appreciation for storytelling. The logical next step was to inhabit the identity of singer-songwriter / indie-rocker. To play quiet, open mic sets full of romantic lyrics and finger-picking. To learn some chords on the ukulele. To wear flannels.
And that was what I contented myself with for awhile– teaching myself music by artists like Fleet Foxes, Bon Iver, Matt Costa, and Andrew Bird, telling people “I’m a singer-songwriter,” and watching as their faces lit up with genre recognition. But eventually, other influences began to press too strongly on my little bubble of acoustic folksiness. Growing up in the heart of New York City meant constant exposure to, and consequent fondness for, hip-hop, and R&B. After enough time soaking it in, J.Cole’s, and Eminem’s brutally honest lyricism became something I wanted to emulate. Or–to throw it back to some of my earlier interests– the multilayered, and dope production of albums like T.I.’s Paper Trail, and Fabolous’s Loso’s Way, became more than just something I appreciated from the sideline. I knew I was no rapper, God did I know it. But the way I crafted songs started to have more to do with my love for verbal dexterity, with the indescribable satisfaction of great flow over a great beat.
Once I let go of the idea that I had to make “singer-songwriter music” (without necessarily letting go of some singer-songwriter fundamentals) I was freed up. I allowed in another influence, one that had always been there, really. It started as an affinity for synthy video game music, and has since flowered into a love for alt-electro musicians like Chet Faker, Sylvan Esso, and Glass Animals. And that’s about where I’m at now: the culmination of all of this and more. Which is an incredibly long-winded way of saying:
I’m not exactly sure how I ended up here, or even what to call this genre, but I’m really happy I’m doing what I’m doing.
Who or what influences your creativity? Have your tastes in music changed over time?
I find myself really inspired by movie scores, oddly enough. There’s this type of sound-tinkering that goes into, say, a Trent Reznor//Atticus Ross soundtrack, that just gets so many of my musical neurons firing. My taste has definitely shifted in the more electronic & experimental direction, but it’s not as if I’ve abandoned a love for acoustic simplicity. What I’m really interested in is the peaceful coexistence of the two: a song with acoustic guitar + electronic production, where the guitar doesn’t sound like some wimpy after-thought. Lewis Del Mar does a really good job of that– I like what they’re doing.
Were you trying to accomplish anything specific on this new project? Creatively or otherwise?
I was trying to synthesize what I said, oh so ramblingly, in response to that first question. To tie together the various phases and genres of my life in a way that felt truthful, organic, and non-apathetic. The concept of the album aligned with that goal: this idea of comparing an adult search for meaningful relationships with a child’s search for insects, or magical worlds, or imaginary friends.
What was the last song you listened to?
White Ferrari – Frank Ocean
Which do you prefer? Vinyl? CDs? MP3s?
My girlfriend’s always telling me I’m a grandpa, but on this I actually swing in the millennial direction. Maybe it’s because I had to organize my cluttered CD/vinyl closet one too many times, but I think MP3s are the way to go.
How about this one…. Do you prefer Spotify? Apple Music? Bandcamp? Or something else? Why?
As a listener, I’ve gravitated towards Spotify and Pandora as a means of finding new music. Pandora’s music-genome project and Spotify’s “related artists” function simplify what can otherwise feel daunting. My music goes up on Apple Music and Spotify on Sept. 2nd, so I can’t yet speak to their effectiveness at getting me exposure//how well they treat underground artists. Soundcloud has struck me as the best medium for getting my friends to hear my stuff, whereas bandcamp has connected me to more professional opportunities. I feel the combination of the two is a strong bedrock.
Other than the digital era overwhelming us with access to an abundance of music, what is the biggest challenge you face when trying to connect with or find new fans?
It makes sense you mention overabundance of music in your question, given how universal a problem it is. And at risk of cheating your caveat, I’ll say that the most present challenge for me, at the moment, has to do with how people go about sifting through that overabundance. Call me grandpa again, but I’m just now coming to terms with the many ways that social media differs from real life interactions. In real life, I’ve found that listening carefully to other people usually ensures you will Be Heard. On social media, Being Heard has much more to do with maintaining, and distributing a nonstop stream of your own thoughts, often paired with little willingness to hear someone else’s, often in ALL CAPS. The very algorithms that guide social networks support a survival-of-the-spammer philosophy. The loudest voices pierce through the racket.
It’s idea that’s felt familiar for a long time, but now it’s beginning to feel especially relevant. Because I want to be loud enough for new fans to hear me, but not so loud that I block out all the good stuff that led to the music in the first place.
Where is the best place to connect with you online? Discover more music?
I post all my recorded music on my soundcloud, and bandcamp:
https://soundcloud.com/evan-crommett
http://evancrommett.bandcamp.com
I also post a bunch of nonofficial material on my Facebook page, ‘Evan Crommett’, and my IG @evancrommett. By nonofficial, I mean acoustic/beat boxing covers, videos of me recreating songs with a looping machine, semi-drunken confessionals, etc.
Anything you’d like to add before signing off?
Just that I’m incredibly thankful to MTM for the opportunity to share this stuff. Pursuing music can be pretty isolating as far as ambitions go, and the tone & depth of these questions are a reminder that I’m in good company.
