Evelyn Cools: “Wilder Mind” (2023) CD Review

Evelyn Cools is a singer and songwriter originally from Belgium, and now living in the United States. In 2020, she released an EP titled Misfit Paradise, which featured some beautiful original material. I particularly enjoyed “Yosemite,” which is about getting out of the city and finding a more natural and wild landscape. And she is now releasing a new EP, Wilder Mind, featuring four original compositions. As with the earlier EP, this one was produced by Enrique Lara, and was recorded in different spots across the country, including Evelyn Cools’ home in New Jersey and Enrique Lara’s home in Los Angeles. Evelyn Cools provides the vocals, including her own backing vocals, and plays acoustic guitar on these tracks. Enrique Lara plays a lot of the instruments, including electric guitar, acoustic guitar, bass, drums and synthesizers, and also provides some backing vocals.

The EP opens with “Loving You,” which was released as the disc’s first single. Evelyn Cools chooses a gentle, soothing approach, the vocals having an ethereal quality at the beginning. “And all I know in this moment/I want to love you/For all that you are/All that you are/I want to hold you.” It is a pretty song, with a dreamlike feel to it. And isn’t that how we think of love at times? “There is nothing like loving you,” she sings. The song combines folk and pop elements, and features Jeff Howell on piano. At one point, she sings “Skipping stones in the ocean,” which is one of my favorite things to do. It is probably the most relaxing thing I do, and so that image itself works to put me in a relaxed mood, in a good place. That’s followed by the EP’s title track, “Wilder Mind.” I mentioned that “Yosemite” was my favorite track from the earlier EP. Like that one, this song also takes us into nature, at least at the start, opening with the lines “Somewhere on a mountain top/I heard you call my name.” From there, it goes into memory, which is a different part of nature, I suppose. Here she sings, “Once upon a different life/I felt a little peace/Long lost stories in my head/Resurface like a dream.” This one has a sweet pop vibe. Jeff Howell plays organ on this track, and Ron Kaplan is on bass. “All I want is to believe/A greater world locked inside of me.”

Evelyn Cools then goes more into the folk realm with “Control,” with acoustic guitars driving the song at the beginning. Adam Tressler joins her on acoustic guitar, electric guitar and baritone guitar, and Ron Kaplan is on fretless bass. These lines are so beautifully sad: “You pull me in so close/But I’m already drifting away, away, away.” And the way she delivers them, particularly the way she repeats “away,” we can almost hear her drifting farther away each time the word is said. And that third “away” sounds so final. The song then kicks in for the chorus, but maintains a pretty and gentle sound. This is my personal favorite track on this disc. “I fear that I’m losing it all.” The EP then concludes with “Into Your World,” which is also more in the folk realm, Evelyn Cools performing it solo. Here are the song’s opening lines: “Love, be still/You have nothing left to give/Hold my hand/You’ve been waiting for so long to land.” And I love the way she delivers the line “The world is feeling dark again,” especially how she gives a brief pause before the word “again,” which subtly changes the meaning, or rather adds to it, hinting that we’ve been here before, and so perhaps we can make it through again. And indeed, that seems to be the case, for soon she sings, “We find our home/In the middle of this treacherous road/And stronger we grow/If you let me into your world.” This is another beautiful song.

CD Track List

1. Loving You
2. Wilder Mind
3. Control
4. Into Your World

Wilder Mind is scheduled to be released on June 2, 2023.