‘Go On! Roll that Old Boulder Away’ is a simply outstanding collection from the York ensemble.

York songwriter Rowan Evans is in enviable form, producing some of the best pieces of songwriting going right now. His new album ‘Go On! Roll That Old Boulder Away’ was released last week under his musical project Rowan and Friends, in which he performs his songs with said ‘friends’ as backing musicians. Opener ‘Poker Night’ is immediately arresting with its high stakes (pun unintended), soul-baring lyrics, and from the moment the band kick in – a phone-demo drawl substituted for full-band high definition – its forty minutes (ideal album length) are consistently engrossing and impressive.

For me, an adherent of lyricism whose measure of songwriting amounts to what the music adds to the lyrics and what the lyrics bring out in the music, this album contains several of the best-written songs in recent memory. There are no misses, but ‘One In Eight Billion’ and ‘The Season of Longing’ are among those that stand out as particular highlights. The latter will further delight superfans for keeping up the tradition, established on debut ‘Rock ‘n’ Roll Superpowers’, of the epic emotional closer packed with Rowan and Friends easter eggs. Here, metaphors about songwriting, religion, love and incarceration are wrenched from personal connections in alternating degrees of charm and unease. The absolute high point, however, is undeniably ‘You Will Never Get That Feeling Back’, a masterful reflection on the whole enterprise of human society, charted through religious mythology, human history and more recent fragments of popular music lore, from the writing of ‘It’s All Over Now Baby Blue’ to Joni Mitchell’s wearing of blackface in the late 1970s. Condensed in one tune, the song is emblematic of the whole record in its delicate yet unaffected balance of candour, humour and wry self-awareness.

An array of musical influences makes itself felt across this record. As an adherent of country masters like Emmylou Harris and Ernest Tubb, Evans incorporates the straightforward wisdom of country songwriting throughout this record. That quality is emphasised by occasional pedal steel croons from Robbie Carman (also of Crazy Paving, Lilo and Baggio) and a duet with Arkansas-based artist Jude Brothers on ‘One In Eight Billion’. The album also features the latest release from the series of Evans’ numbered ‘Country Love Songs’ (‘#6: All Time Ends’) as well an inaugural ‘Country Hat Song’ (‘#1’) before closer ‘The Season of Longing’ builds to a pitch of Southern Gothic in Nick Cave proportions (which kicks in somewhere around the line, “Take this gun from my hands, I want you to shoot me”).

Incorporating these older classic influences, the album sits most naturally in alignment with the lineage of classic indie rock, justifying the association with its brilliant idiosyncratic lyrical perspectives and fuzzed-out, guitar-driven warmth. While Pavement were invoked in spirit on the title track of his previous album, this album’s most direct namecheck comes in the form of  the strange scuttling ‘David Berman’s Apartment’. Evans has also acknowledged the distinct influence of Neutral Milk Hotel on the maximalist ‘I’ve Been Thinking About Jesus’, which is driven by a clarion call performed by Anna Bailey.

Bailey, along with Carman, represents the strong ties which connect this album between Rowan and Friends’ base in York and the burgeoning south London indie scene represented in numbers here. Joseph Futák, also known for his solo work as well as production work with Tapir!, Piglet, Lilo and Baggio, is on production duties, while further contributions come from Emmett Cruddas (also of Baggio, plus Dead Slow Hoot) and Frankie Distani (Kaspar Hauser, Dimensions). Along with these more recent collaborations from further afield, this record is also made by Evans’ deep connections to his community in York. The name Rowan and Friends was conceived in anticipation of the revolving list of collaborators who have been involved in this project. Among the featured ‘friends’ are Ollie Howland, Dan Lucas, Tom Burgess and Adam Holmes, who have all served long stints in Evans’ live band. The album also features debut contributions from new regular additions to the live lineup, vocalist Cordelia Hobbes and accordion-player Ben Crosthwaite, and is completed by artwork by fellow York musician Harry Clowes (also of The Black Lagoons and more recently releasing under Harry Klaus). Evans’ contribution to York’s music scene over the past few years has been immense, arranging, alongside his many Rowan and Friends gigs, all manner of open mics and folk nights and working on DIY festivals and other gig promotion. It is heartening to see something of all that reflected back on this collection.

A prolific songwriter, this collection represents some of the best of Evans’ work to date, reflecting a deep dedication to the craft and the ‘friends’ and the scene that has made it all possible. It is a truly impressive and continually rewarding set of songs. Now go and listen to it on Bandcamp because he’s boycotting Spotify: https://rowan-and-friends.bandcamp.com/album/go-on-roll-that-old-boulder-away