Evan Ballard is a veteran singer, songwriter, and multi-instrumentalist who made his solo professional recording debut in 2022. He was born in Inglewood, California. At age 12, he and his family moved to Nashville, Tennessee. In Music City Evan sang in several bands. As time passed, the bands fell apart and friends moved on, making him autonomous. He wanted to keep creating, so he taught himself to play various instruments and began making music independently.
He formed the band MANGUN and began writing for their debut EP. His bandmates couldn’t keep up with his songwriting pace so he started a second group, The Markov Seduction. Evan has struggled for years with bipolar disorder and depression. His mental health issues have made it very difficult to finish any project. After years of therapy and cycling through various medications, the singer finally reached a point where he could finish his creations.
In 2019 Evan Ballard’s mother, Lois, passed away. Her passing was the spark that would inspire him to start working on his first solo effort. His daughter (whose middle name is Lo) was born in 2021. Written and recorded in the time and space between those two milestones, he entitled his debut album Lo.
Available worldwide via all major streaming services, the ten-song collection is an emotional meditation on the joy, pain, hope, and sorrow born of the two life-altering events that shaped it. From the intro recording of Evan’s mother singing him Happy Birthday on the opening track “Whole” to the melancholy lullaby “To Say Goodnight,” Ballard offers a dreamy musical dissertation on the yin and yang of life’s transitions.
The songwriter cites modern and classic alternative artists as influences. His sound is inspired by Radiohead, Coldplay, Neutral Milk Hotel, Father John Misty, Nirvana, and Canadian indie hero Tobias Jesso Jr. On Lo, Evan Ballard spins lyrical images from his own story and others with a beautiful and organic tapestry of sound.
Throughout the album, Evan Ballard, and his acoustic guitar, are joined by a versatile ensemble. We hear flashes of his adopted hometown in the steel guitar slides of songs like “Home,” and a taste of Tijuana brass on “Favorite Song” and the heartbreak “The Time it Takes.”
Threads of country, rock, and folk run through dark pop tunes like “A Part of Me” and the Beatles-esque “Never Say Goodnight.” It’s a mood, but there is hope in his melancholy, or maybe melancholy in his hope. On tunes like “Moths” and “Another Song About Death,” he cleverly spins them together into a cohesive whole.
Check out the “Favorite Song” video below. You can also hear the track on the Deep Indie Dive playlist. Or listen to Lo in its entirety on your favorite streaming service. Follow the links below to connect with Evan Ballard. Get on his socials and get in the loop on all the music from this multifaceted artist.