Ev. G Explores Memory, Time, and Altered Realities on Psychedelic New Single “Way We Remember” from upcoming album
Transportive and oblique, “Way We Remember” is a swirling new offering from Calgary-born, Toronto-based artist Ev. G. Taken from his forthcoming debut album, And Then I Go Up, out September 23rd, the single leans into asymmetry, psychedelia, and sonic disorientation all while pulsing with hallucinatory swagger. Built on a hazy bed of vaporwave textures, the track unspools like a lucid dream in motion, grappling with the slipperiness of memory and the ways we warp time.
Initially crafted by longtime collaborator and producer Brock Geiger, the track began as an ambient, beatless world of airy synths and pitch-shifted guitar loops.
“I wanted to give Ev a musical palette to write to that felt hazy and static,” Geiger shares, “but had slow evolution that would allow for a variety of melodic and phrasing approaches.”
The instrumental demo file was titled “Way We Remember,” which quickly became both a subliminal prompt and conceptual anchor.
“We worked on this one in a few places,” Ev. G adds, “but one of the most important was a log cabin studio on a lake in northern Ontario – Brett Pederson’s Tall Pines. That setting kind of cracked the song open. Something about that place helped us reach further into the trippy spaces we wanted the song to explore.”
When Ev. G began writing fragments for his debut LP, And Then I Go Up, he couldn’t have anticipated what they would grow into. Years later, a trusted creative bond with longtime friends Brock Geiger and Will Maclellan transformed those fragments into something deeply personal and sonically bold. Recorded between stints at Sound City (LA), Brock’s Studio B (Calgary, AB), and Tall Pines Studio (Temagami, ON), the resulting album is a richly layered collection of oblique textures, vivid imagery, and emotional openness.
First off, care to introduce yourself to our readers?
My name’s Evan. I go by the artist name Ev. G and I’m based out of Calgary, AB. I’ll be releasing my debut LP, “And Then I Go Up” September 23. It’s the result of a close collaboration with Brock Geiger and Will Maclellan, my brother and best friend stretching way back. Can’t wait to share these songs with whoever may find them. There are elements of alternative, hip hop, indie pop, and probably some others mixed in there. Genres can be tough. I try to be offline, and outside. Or inside. And my orange and white Siberian Forest cat Pinot likes to keep my ego in check.
“Way We Remember” feels dreamlike and disorienting in the best way. What does memory mean to you, and how did that idea guide the song’s direction?
It’s great to hear that. Yeah, the dreamlike, disorienting feel of the song is definitely where we wanted it to land. I think the concept of memory is fascinating. It’s obviously such a personal and subjective thing, so much so that you can never know how much you fully share it with someone. In a lot of ways, I think memories make us who we are, whether they’re consciously held and clear, faint echoes or even no longer accessible to us. And we can also deceive ourselves with our memories, and how we remember or misremember things changes over time. For the song, when I approached the writing, I wasn’t really looking to be explicit with any of these musings. I more so just wanted to try and capture the feel of our sometimes disconsonant relationship to memories and time. And in a sense describe the ‘way we remember.’
The log cabin studio at Tall Pines sounds like a magical spot. How did the environment there influence the sound and feel of the track?
It truly is a special place. The owner, Brett Pedersen, is just one of those guys that will go the extra mile for you, so he’s no small part of what makes it so great. Recording in a massive log cabin on the lake surrounded by untouched Canadian forest will always be a welcome change of scenery from the usual places we work in. I think changing your surroundings and just being in a different setting than what you’re used to encourages experimentation and different approaches. Especially a place as beautiful as Tall Pines. Brock and Will ended up reaching for some instruments and palettes that maybe they wouldn’t have if we were somewhere else. I also think how much fun we had while working there comes through in a way.
You worked closely with longtime collaborators Brock Geiger and Will Maclellan. What makes those partnerships so creatively strong?
Working with my brother and best friend stretching back more than two decades has been amazing. I have immense respect for their talents, so I’m very grateful to have had them put in as much as they have into this project. Collaborating with them is great because there’s just an inherent trust between us. You’re never worried about voicing ideas and having something dismissed as unworthy. Most importantly though, it’s just fun and exciting to be building and creating with them.
After years of writing and refining, what does it mean to you personally to finally release your debut LP?
To be releasing an album feels a little surreal to me. For the longest time I never really had the intention of releasing anything. I just did it for its own sake. What’s most exciting to me is the chance that someone I’ve never met and will never meet may find something in this project that really resonates with them. Even if it was only like one person, it would still mean something to me. So, I hope anyone who hears it will take something away from it.
If someone only had time to hear one track off the record to “get” Ev. G, which one would you point them to — and why?
Tough question! To “get” Ev. G, I want to say ‘Aphasia,’ but if it’s the only song someone would hear, I’ll have to go another direction. That’s probably why ‘Aphasia’ is the final track on the album. Moving on from my non-answer to my answer then. I’ll go with ‘Kokoro.’ I came across it while reading “Kokoro” by Natsume Sōseki, one of my favourite authors. This song isn’t really related to the book but that’s how I stumbled on the word. Kokoro is a Japanese term with no singular English equivalent. From what I’ve gathered, it refers to one’s innermost being, or indivisible part of their essence, or heart, mind and spirit. What I found attractive about the term/concept is that it seems very difficult to fully pin down if you don’t speak Japanese. I wanted to parallel that elusiveness with the elusiveness that I sense our ‘Kokoro’ can have. “Did you find my Kokoro?”
Beyond the concept of it though, I just really like where we landed with the sound of it all. It’s tripped out in a good way and keeps momentum. It’s probably the track where I’m rapping the most. And it has one of my favourite parts on the album where Kane Ritchotte enters with some truly wild drumming at just the right moment, then continues to rip.
Thanks for having me on to answer some questions. I appreciated them all!
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