WE’RE ALWAYS LOOKING FOR POSITIVES
EVABEE’S KEEPING BUSY UNDER LOCKDOWN AND WORKING HARD ON HER DEBUT LP... WHICH WILL BE A CELEBRATION OF MANCHESTER
IF you’ve been feeling lethargic and unproductive during UK lockdown, the story of singer Evabee Richardson might well give you some much-needed motivation. Three weeks ago, when PM Boris Johnson first announced measures for UK quarantine, Evabee – one of Manchester’s most thrillingly inventive solo artists – wasted no time in preparing for potentially many months of self-isolating at home.
“That weekend before Boris Johnson announced lockdown,” Evabee tells CityLife over the phone, “when he was just dithering, being totally indecisive about what he was telling the country, I built a little studio at home. I wanted to make the most of my time. My entire plans for the summer, gigs and festivals, they’d all been cancelled. If I can’t go out and play shows, I can still make music and be productive.”
Like many independent musicians across the globe, Evabee has been hugely resourceful in the face of the COVID-19 pandemic. Having assembled her own recording set-up at home, the Mancunian songstress has been extremely productive in these first weeks of UK lockdown. Her brilliant new track, Puppet On A String, was written, recorded and released – with an accompanying lo-fi video – in the space of just three days.
Arguably her finest, most ago, the 26-year-old singer and MC accomplished tune to date, the track has popped up in various guises, marks a significant change in from bands (the experimental outfit Evabee’s working methods. A Broken Camarilla) to
“It’s my quickest ever turnaround collaborations (with Voodoo Black) for a track,” she explains. “Usually it to her more recent genre-straddling takes me a lot longer; I’m a real solo work. perfectionist when I’m in the studio It’s the latter, of course, which will working on a track. When I’m surely bring Evabee the mass mixing something, I wanna get audience which she so deserves. every little detail right. But this time, With a fluid, engaging sound that I just had a ‘f**k it’ attitude. You’ve bounces between jazz, neo-soul and got to adapt to the situation.” hip-hop, she’s very much a proud
Manchester music fans will no product of the current Manc urban doubt already be familiar with scene’s impressive crosspollination. Evabee’s impressive adaptability. From rubbing
First emerging around five years shoulders with musicians, producers and DJs to attending clubnights such as Hit & Run and Swing Ting, Evabee has acquired a wealth of knowledge from her Mancunian night-time adventures - and she’s now spilling it all back out with her wonderful solo music.
“It’s a real community round here,” she says. “Everyone has each other’s backs. When I first started out, I got so much support from other producers and musicians. People like Sparkz and Ellis Meade (members of Voodoo Black); as a teenager, I really looked up to them. And now I’m working with them. That’s the strength of this city everyone is rooting for each other. There’s no competition.”
Raised in Whalley Range, Evabee credits her parents for her eclectic, expansive approach to musicmaking. Her mother, she recalls, instilled a love for “the classics. Soul and reggae music and Rastafari culture.” And her father, a committed reveller during the Nineties dance scene, introduced her, she says, “to dancier, more Manchester stuff. He was a proper raver back in the day.”
Evabee’s journey into the spotlight reflects that wide-ranging musical education. From cutting
her teeth at Manchester rap nights to fronting the excellent electronic soul outfit A Broken Camarilla, Evabee, by her own admission, has taken a while to find her musical voice.
Her most recent solo work would certainly suggest she’s getting ever closer. A spacious, soulful blend of jazz, drum’n’bass and hip-hop, the Evabee sound – produced by her long-time collaborators Kong and TMNMS – is as emotionally engaging as it is genre-defyingly inventive. Her lyrics, meanwhile,burn with a fiery social conscience, exploring the stories of those whose are disadvantaged and underserved.
“I get that from my mum,” she explains. “She’s an activist and she’s really passionate about social issues and politics. Thanks to her, I’ve always been aware that local communities have to fight for themselves.
“We have to use our voice or we’ll just be ignored by those people in charge.
“That social awareness is always at the forefront of my mind.”
Now, with summer gig plans derailed thanks to a certain COVID19, Evabee is busy working on her debut solo LP, set for release later this year. In these dark, uncertain times, Evabee is more determined than ever to fly the flag for our beloved city.
“I’ve already got a title for the album – From The City of Light,” she reveals. “It’s like a celebration of Manchester. No matter what, we always look for the positive in a situation.
“With everything that’s going on right now, I think that’s appropriate.”