David Evans - Internal Temporal Order

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4...according to our Clinton on Fri 01 Jul, 2011.

A new name to add to the pile of pale and interesting electronic producers taking initial cues from Kraftwerk and their like (more on them later). Evans describes this album as an attempt to play electronic music on acoustic instruments and on opener '1am to 2am' he gets it spot on with a lovely tune that builds up from nothing to the prettiest of tunes sitting somewhere between Mogwai at their most delightful, Fennesz and Tortoise. A drummer by trade, Evans is incredibly creative with the drum patterns, where most drummers are prepared to just plod along, he fills the music with intuitive little counter melodies and offbeats which at times almost play a tune themselves. There's an oddball cover of Kraftwerk's 'Trans-Europe Express' mainly using glockenspiel, an instrument that is prevalent throughout the record on a few ambient pieces of lesser substance but when the drums return on 'Swing House' it certainly is for the better. The closer 'Music for Brian' utilises African drumming techniques but you'll be waiting a very long time for a melody as 8 minutes in nothing has arrived.

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Internal Temporal Order is the debut solo album
from David Evans, ‘infamously’ the drummer in
This is Your Captain Speaking. Internal Temporal
Order was composed and performed entirely on
standard drum kit, with the addition of brooms &
brushes and tuned percussion.

From the space-pop of album opener 1am to 2am
to the brain-dazzling hypnotic beats of the
album’s title track, improvised ambient pieces and
a brilliant dead-pan cover of the Kraftwerk classic
Trans-Europe Express, Evans has delivered a
truly unique and magnetic debut in Internal
Temporal Order.

Evans suggests that Internal Temporal Order was
recorded as part of an effort “to play songs
inspired by electronic music using acoustic
instruments.”

His description provides a context for the sound
which basks in the tactile space that is created by
Evans using traditional drums, straddling linear
rhythms and textural nuances, and at its heart this
is where Internal Temporal Order shines.

Evans elaborates by saying, “the idea for this
album was to try and write an entire album almost
exclusively on a standard acoustic drum kit, with a
few other bits and pieces and some tuned
percussion”.

As the drummer in This Is Your Captain
Speaking, Evans has fulfilled his role in providing
the bones; supporting the spatial rock layers the
trio are renowned for. Here Evans extends his
reach, developing an album which exhibits
subtlety and a diversity of rhythm, and his desire
“to try and play melodies on the drum kit, as well
as rhythms.”

“The album was, to some degree, inspired by
electronic artists, though not really too many
specific people – apart from Plastikman’s album
Muzik, which was composed using analogue
Roland drum machines and is a classic!”

The 24 Hour Drawing Project

Five tracks on Internal Temporal Order were
conceived, written, performed and recorded in
May 2010 as a part of The 24 Hour Drawing
Project: 24 hours of continuous work as part of an
annual ‘endurance art event’ which has occurred
in Melbourne for the past 7 years.

“During the 24 hours of continuous work, the only
track which had been previously conceived was
Trans-Europe Express” Evans explains. “The idea
for (Trans-Europe Express) had been going
around in my head for years and somehow it
came out pretty much as I heard it.

All the other tracks recorded during the 24 hours
were completely improvised on the spot.
Good Night was recorded in the last half hour and
ended up being a kind of lullaby to end the 24
hours with”.