Jennifer Di (vocals & synths/guitar) and Mike Allain (drums & synths/progamming) make up the Vancouver based alternative-synth pop duo, Evil Tongues. Both with past careers as an audio engineer and as a production assistant, these two up and coming artists know the ins and outs of the music industry. “We’ve both been working professionals in the Music Industry for years, and one day we decided we wanted to trade from being backstage, working behind the scenes, to being the ones on the stage performing.” Originally forming in 2017, the major hit on the industry due to the pandemic saw the pair with ample time to focus on the band. “We had a shared mindset on how we would want Evil Tongues to be and so once the pandemic hit we took that opportunity to write and record and start us down the path of the Artist, which is where we’ve wanted to be.”
In January of 2022, Evil Tongues released their debut single ‘Fine’. “’Fine’ is about your world collapsing around you, and the mental dance we do between depression, anger, anxiety, insanity, and lying to ourselves that everything is fine. For Jen personally this song is specifically about the music industry coming to a complete stand still at the beginning of the pandemic. At the time, Jen was working as a Production/Admin Assistant for concerts in Edmonton, Alberta. Every job requires some sacrifice, but the music industry really is it’s own beast, and watching something you’ve built yourself up in your entire life, sacrificing time with family, relationships etc, come to a complete stand still left this giant hole and this sense of depression unlike anything she’d felt before. Not only were both Jen and Mike’s jobs wiped out, but their coping mechanism was taken out with it. The first year of the pandemic Jen would spend hours just lying on the floor in the living room of my Edmonton apartment, trying to process and make sense of everything, and over analyzing her life and the decisions she’d made to get to this point. Jen wrote the chorus lyrics of ‘Fine’ on a beautiful sunny day, from the depths of depression on her living room floor.” After two years of what they and many others have had to cope with, the heavy meaning behind their new single is one that is certainly relatable. Although this is their first release, Mike and Jen say “We both come from Punk/Metal/Hardcore backgrounds so trading that in for 80s analog synthwave sounds surprised a lot of people!”
Alongside the release of their single, the alternative pop duo released a professional lyric video for ‘Fine’, making for a smart first move as they introduce themselves to the music industry and to the world as Evil Tongues. When asked why they chose a lyric video they said “As our first release we wanted something that represented the song in a simple yet effective manner, and everyone has a pandemic story, it’s what we’ve all been tuned into for better or for worse over the last couple years. We wanted to showcase the lyrics because it deals with emotions we’ve all had to deal with through this and the things we’ve had to tell ourselves to help get us through it.” Taking immediate inspiration from their single cover, the lyric video features an old rounded television screen displaying static images with a heavy focus on the lyrics. The font choice matches the cover art exactly, which helps create a cohesive brand for the song. I love the subtle glitch effect over the font and the way that they transition out with an old school wiggle effect. When asked about their favourite part of the music video they said “White noise can be all that’s left when you’re coping from change that affects your mental health. We feel having the TV only showing static is a good simple visual metaphor for what we’re conveying lyrically with ‘Fine’.” The song and lyric video have garnered a great response from fans with comments such as “On repeat OMG I love this!” and “Soooo good!”.
What’s next for Evil Tongues? They say “We’ll have more music out over the coming months and are working on lining up some performances for summer/fall 2022.” You can listen to ‘Fine’ wherever you stream your music and follow them across multiple social media platforms here:
Facebook: www.facebook.com/eviltongues
Instagram: @eviltongues
Twitter: @eviltongues_
TikTok: @eviltongues_
Bandcamp: www.eviltongues.bandcamp.com
Check out the lyric video for ‘Fine‘ on Evil Tongues’ Official YouTube Channel here: