Evangelicals

So Gone (Misra)

Great pop music is little more than melody, bounce, and jubilation. Norman, Okla.’s Evangelicals multiply those elements and add a spacey, surreal counterpart not far off from scenemates the Flaming Lips. Psychedelic echo reverberates through “Another Day (And Yoor Still Knocked Out)” along with the refrain, “You’re only dreaming,” and that’s what the trio’s debut is about: carny reveries that are just maybe a little chemically altered. Josh Jones’ falsetto and delicately boyish vox lead Evangelicals through the mushy, bass-driven “Diving,” a more excited “Hello Jenn, I’m a Mess,” and the enveloped stop-start of “Here Comes Trouble.” With all this head music, there’s yet a more restrained side. Album highlight “My Headache” builds slow, a Sixties love song reaching the height of Evangelicals’ throwback. Everything else plays true and new, if a bit out of control. Electronic textures (“Into the Woods”) meet Devendra Banhart (closer “The Water Is Warm”) on a warm Slip ‘n Slide. For a band barely a year old living in a psychedelic hotbed, So Gone is joyously that.

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This article appears in June 30 • 2006.

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