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CD ReviewEverpresent - “Everpresent” & “Singles & Remixes”By Marcus Pan
There are six tracks on each of these releases Everpresent and Singles & Remixes, so I’ve bulked them together for the review. With Everpresent spinning first we start with You Need This, a slow bass driven dirge populated with a brooding rhythm and Kai’s thumping bass slaps. Great vocal harmonies between Matthew and Nancy. Everpresent keep things somewhat simple, relying more on the baritone vocals of Cahoon to carry most singles to you, rhythms and instrumentation taking a backdrop role. The croons of Lawrence are a welcome aspect, coming in at the right times without being overbearing, as in Embrace Me, which churns out as another slow song. Rhythms, while remaining backdrop, is well sequenced and smooth. The music takes a surprising lead with some nice smooth bass rhythms as Embrace Me steps up a bit. You Save Me opens with an unsatisfying stock-in-trade high hat beat, but adds interesting keyboard work as we progress. I’m digging the funky opening of Don’t Stop, which brings us some guitar work by O’Gwin to liven things up. Drowning smoothes us out with a trancy, if moving, close. The main detractor to Everpresent is its stock beats. The make-up is good, the sequencing is good and it doesn’t fall into the press-everything trap, and it has interesting breakdowns like the bass stomp breakdown in Drowning and the bass rhythms in Embrace Me. But because of the standard fare percussion it doesn’t remain memorable on the whole. Remixes might be necessary, which of course brings us to…
Likewise nice basswork on Silence Speaks which again retains a harder edge with a more techno-laced feel rather than the previous album’s trancier feel. The Pulse Everpresent finds us getting trancy again, and utilizing once again some of the stock percussion that downplayed Everpresent. Singles & Remixes is closed with two more versions of Silence Speaks. The radio edit is decent, but I really enjoy the weirdness in the Pankow Remix. Overall Everpresent do some decent work, friendly for the radio and most clubs. Everpresent will do fine for your more swirly and trancy places while the Singles & Remixes release will stomp the floor up a little more. For a bit of fun, throw the Pankow Remix of Silence Speaks over a dance floor just to see how off kilter you can get bodies to move. Contact Information: (1) Legends interviewed Collide in issue #136. Click to Buy!
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Everpresent is, admittedly, a bit poppier
than what we usually cover but it does have a darker bent to it – somehow
reminds me of Collide(1). The musicians here are Matthew Cahoon (vocals, keys,
sequencing & drums) and Kai Kurosawa (bass, guitar) with a little help from
Nancy Lawrence (vocals) and Matt O’Gwin (guitar). A small group, so you
expect the sound to be very tight and they’ve managed that. 
Singles & Remixes gives a nice
taste of Everpresent’s stronger work. Don’t Stop from the
just-reviewed Everpresent release is here along with five others. We
open with Behind Your Veil. Heavier guitars open here, a stronger
approach than the previous CD. There’s different players here as well with
the exception of Matthew. Aharon Verno on drums, Victoria Mierlak on vocals
join the soloist with Shannon Chwialkowski and Joel Dean helping with bass and
guitar respectively. If Behind Your Veil is any indication, Joel’s
work ranks high. 
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