Torrance, CA – What do you want?
It’s a surprisingly heavy question, because it immediately begs a second one. Is what you want worth it?
In one sense, Evergreen, the four-track EP from CA-based, indie R&B artist Brandon Young, is a thoughtful engagement with both of these questions: a multi-layered look at changing desires and an introspective analysis of whether or not the chase for material things is worth it.
In another sense, it’s something much simpler: it’s the kind of music you can lose yourself in.
Opening track “Push, Pull” starts sparsely, with Young’s controlled vocals mirroring ascending and descending piano parts. But, in just a couple lines, rhythm arrives in the form of Latin-inspired dancehall bass and djembe-like percussion that carry the track through two-thirds of its 2:15 run-time.
In the song’s final third, the soundscape switches into a satisfying, garage-rock beat that’s swathed in heavy reverb, as if to suggest lyrics coming from a different time and place. Fittingly, Young closes out the track reminiscing on his dreams of the future from his younger years:
“Sipping on something strong
Thinking bout something sweet
Boats and jetskis docked in the Florida Keys”
Second track “SHINING” introduces a two-chord progression on delayed synths that forms a backdrop for Young’s soulful, echoed vocal melodies. The beach-rap simplicity of the song belies the complexity of emotions Young tackles within it: it’s about a relationship. And while the straightforward overwhelm of desire comes through clearly, there’s also an honest hesitancy at the cost of love that makes the lyrics compelling:
“I can’t afford to
Lose my mind over you”
Ditching musical simplicity, “Perfect Circle” starts with an arpeggiated jazz piano riff before blasting into a hip-hop beat, featuring a steady snare on the two and four. It’s all bolstered by a crunchy electric guitar riff that plays nicely with the piano lines, adding a flair of rock texture to a track that, lyrically, is pretty straightforward fun:
“I got people I can trust
People that I love
People I can hug
People that don’t judge me”
In the context of the EP, it’s a showcase of Young’s determination to be at peace in the midst of striving. The track represents happiness as an internal mental state, even while acknowledging that, outside, there’s material progress to be made.
But final track “Material Things” seems to flip that narrative on its head. Starting with eerie chords that pan back and forth above a buzzing synth bass, the track takes off with a rolling drum-line snare beat as Young lays his desires on the table:
“I’m just trying to get rich
Trying to move my songs like the way they move bricks”
Even here, though, there’s nuance. The song ends with a question and answer in what might be the record’s most singable lines:
“Do you really want the cheese?
Material things that they say we don’t need?
I do, I do, say fuck ‘em, I do”
It’s as close to a straightforward judgment as Young gives, and it still feels resigned rather than triumphant, like a kid who’s agreeing to take medicine not because they like the taste but because they want to get better. That’s by design; Evergreen is an evaluation of desire with the added wisdom of hindsight.
As Young explains, “[Evergreen] encapsulates a time period in my life that I’ve grown out of.”
That Young has moved out of Evergreen’s space is understandable; even if it never feels effortful, this is a record of internal wrestling, and it has to end pinned down somewhere. But, musically, this is a call back to a timeless place.
