Syndicated from Music Site: Indie Shuffle
What’s so good?
Evan Voytas effortlessly traverses the atmosphere with his music — and it may or may not be related to his traveling past. Born and raised in rural Pennsylvania, he moved to Harlem at 18 and on to the California desert before deciding to hang his hat in the fair city of Los Angeles.
Along the way, he’s released a series of EPs and singles that retain a steady and sure undercurrent of dreamy, synth-infused pop. The sound feels timeless in nature and reflects a deep-seated spirit of easygoing travel, dream, and wonder.
Below, read an interview with Evan about his current collaborations (Gonjasufi, to name a few), mysticism serving as inspiration, and his decision to move to Los Angeles.
Who are some of your early musical influences? How do you think they shaped the creative process of your craft, in particular, Tomorrow Night We’ll Go Anywhere?
One of the first concerts I saw was Elton John and Billy Joel on their “Face to Face” tour. I still really love both of them. I like how each of their albums is a presentation of where this person is at right now, and it somehow fits in with the times. Maybe that’s not true for them now, but they both had a good run. Tomorrow Night We’ll Go Anywhere is just a document of a certain time in my life, and now I’ll do something different.
When creating the EP did anything unexpected happen? Did some things come more easily, or more difficult than as planned?
I guess when I set out to write music I hope everything that happens is unexpected. When you’re open to that sort of thing, the music usually has more life to it. But nothing tangibly unexpected happened. Like Bow Wow didn’t show up at the studio or anything.
Being from Pennsylvania originally, what brought you to L.A.?
I had already lived in New York and out in the desert, and a lot of my friends were heading to L.A., so that’s where I ended up too. Also, I felt that the type of music I was creating was well suited for L.A., that the aesthetic was a nice match.
What inspires you?
I don’t listen to a lot of music. Mostly I’m inspired by writers, usually writing about mysticism, dudes like Ram Dass, Stephen Levine, Thomas Merton, Alan Watts, and I really like Hermann Hesse and Henry Miller.
Who would you love to collaborate with?
Right now I’m starting some collaborations with Mainframe, Danny Brown, and Gonjasufi. I’m really excited about all of those, we’ll see what comes of it.
Tomorrow Night We’ll Go Anywhere is out now courtesy of experimental pop label Cascine.
Elsewhere on the web:
myspace | myspace.com/evanvoytas