KEVAN - Doors EP
By Thomas Bridger
After over a decade of widespread recognition across Italy, of which he was featured in major magazines and radio stations, singer and producer Kevan releases his first EP DOORS, released in July earlier this year.
Kevan - DOORS EP
The EP really showcases not only Kevan’s voice and songwriting abilities, but is a great demonstration of his talents in the studio; DOORS was clearly written with creative production in mind. I think this is important to the initial vision and overall integrity of this EP, as it’s too easy for an outside producer to interfere with an artist’s creation; they can sometimes drastically change something that the artist had initially envisioned to be something completely different.
The first song “call me” takes heavy influence from the Latin music world; from the Latin percussion and dembow drum beat, to the flamenco guitar patterns and chord progression which almost seems to be a carbon copy of Camila Cabello’s “Havana”. It is none the worse for this, however. I think the song has a lot more substance to it than most of the cookie-cutter Latin stuff that’s been in the charts for the past few years. Particularly the solo line in the Spanish guitar which keeps cropping in and out of the piece.
The title song of the EP DOORS is my favourite. The distorted, reverby production on the vocals at the beginning reminds me of The Weeknd’s work. Paired with the sparse, slow-moving chord patterns it makes for an intriguing start. I thought the song might have gone somewhere by the halfway mark, perhaps gradually building in texture to make one of those slow ‘all-rise’ anthems, but Kevan sticks to his guns and leaves the song petering along at the same level of intensity as the beginning. I think it’s why it’s my favourite track of the EP. Not every song needs to have a destination. I like the change in pace from the rest of the EP. I also particularly enjoy when the layered vocals enter; the distorted production in the backing vocals and dissonance in the harmonies just emit a warmth that is rarely achieved in electronically produced music.
Overall I found the whole EP to be an enjoyable listen. The songwriting, composition and production were all well-intertwined. Nothing felt tacked on, it felt like a story with a coherent beginning, middle and end.