Though best known as the frontman of The Fatty Acids and drummer of Jaill, Josh Evert has ventured into unfamiliar territory and struck out on his own for his last two efforts. Seriously. In December, he released Not Uninhabited, a collection of field recordings he captured at Homestead National Monument in Nebraska during an artist-in-residency program. Last month, Evert embarked on another residency program, which yielded enough material for another EP.

Self-recorded, mixed, and mastered during a stint with ACRE in Steuben, Wisconsin, Uncle Sam’s Club For The Agoraphobic seems to bridge the stylistic chasm between Evert’s synth-pop and garage-rock mainstays and the naturalist experimentation of Uninhabited. The title track kicks the five-song jaunt off by somehow pulling function from what Evert calls “a grotesquely out of tune” piano. With undeniable hooks rife with social commentary, “The Sound Of Machines” is the closest connection one could make to The Fatty Acids. The project was ideal for the creative purging the residency awarded Evert.

“I wrote the songs in the past couple years, and they didn’t seem to fit as Fatty Acids songs or into the other projects I was working on at the time,” Evert tells Milwaukee Record. “So when I was awarded the residency, I decided to take the time to record them.”

Still, Uncle Sam’s Club turns over new stones for Evert, with the studio’s makeshift musical setup (aside from the wonky piano, the drums were tuned like a jazz kit) and some parts recorded outdoors, this isn’t quite in line with the presentation and attention to detail listeners have come to expect from an artist associated with two Milwaukee musical institutions. Even so, it’s an interesting sidestep for Evert and, along with a stunning new music video, serves as a more-than-worthwhile means of holding over listeners who are anxious for the next Fatties record.

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Co-Founder and Editor

Before co-founding Milwaukee Record, Tyler Maas wrote for virtually every Milwaukee publication (except Wassup! Magazine). He lives in Bay View and enjoys both stuff and things.