EVAN VOYTAS

Indie / Electro / Pop

Kutztown, PA

Billboard

Evan Voytas doesn't know where he is or what he is doing, and it is this mindset that has dropped him into the most extraordinary environs. At 24 years old, the singer/multi-instrumentalist has taken these experiences and developed his own brand of catchy pop music that sounds like Cat Stevens experimenting with party drugs.

Born in rural Pennsylvania, Evan was raised on the oldies, listening to his father's cassette tapes of Elvis and the Righteous Brothers. As a teenager, he discovered jazz. At age 18, he moved to Harlem where he immersed himself in various religious texts and 70's new age paperbacks. He grew a beard and befriended a group of Franciscan friars because they too had beards. Together, they enjoyed hours of silent reflection as well as family-style pasta dinners.

It was here in New York that Voytas cultivated his musicianship. Studying music at the City College of New York, Evan started his own quartet and began making a name for himself in the modern jazz scene. Then he left.

Voytas boarded a Greyhound bus and settled on an Indian pueblo in northern New Mexico. After a few months meandering in the desert, Evan returned to New York City, shaved the beard, and found himself playing lead guitar and singing back-up for teen-pop phenom Teddy Geiger. Evan's trance-like stage performances started to gain attention as he toured the world with Teddy, and he soon discovered that he had developed his own following, complete with internet fan clubs. After completing the tour, Evan again retreated into obscurity, moving into a farmhouse in his native Pennsylvania. Here, at the end of a dirt road, Evan set up a studio and began recording the songs that would become his debut EP.

With influences ranging from T. Rex to Daft Punk, Evan's music is a new sound. Voytas writes an instantly familiar tune, but frames it with a sonic landscape that simultaneously references '60s pop and Baltimore Club music. The result is something that sounds like Burt Bacharach and Bjork collaborating in a bedroom studio.

In 2008, Evan continues to write and perform his music, and will release a 7-song EP, "Introducing Evan Voytas."

24 yrs old and swirling electronics like a young James Murphy. Evan Voytas has mastered the blend of rock and electro and added lazy harmonies for good luck. He released his debut ep this past week, and has big plans for 2008.
What to Wear During an Orange Alert

This EP was a wonderful display of some great indie pop moments. Evan has a gentle vocal that just feels right at home with every listen. He is certainly a songwriter to keep an eye on.
Comfort Comes

If you're not listening to Evan Voytas, you're seriously missing out... and I'm not just saying that. You're missing out on an art form here.
Circles of Concrete

...sometimes-moody, sometimes-electronic, all-the-time-awesome pop songs.
Buzzgrinder

Voytas' hazy, overdriven pop comes off like DayQuil.
Buzznet

Read the interview with What to Wear during an Orange Alert.