The Evil in This World is a captivating dark folk EP from Texas-based duo Mr. Charisma, whose somber and reflective songwriting stuns throughout. Drawing inspiration from True Detective‘s legendary first season and its overall philosophical mood, the four-song project blends melodic acoustics and a memorable baritone vocal while delivering a melancholic, multi-layered meditation on earthly sin and existential dread.
“The general premise of the voice in this band is one of the cynic,” member Daniel Austin says. “Someone like Rust Cohle, who sees another side of the issue at hand. Someone who wants to probe further into the heart of matters to hopefully get to some clearer, more accurate understanding of truth, no matter what the cost. But that’s often a sad endeavor, so the mood of the songs reflects that entirely.”
The EP’s title track struts a suavely forlorn folk introspection, its grizzled “this much I know” lyrical output of “there’s evil in this world” graveness pairing with twangy adornments and acoustic strums. A clap-laden rhythmic presence lingers underneath, remaining steady into the “I know it’s hard to understand, what kind of God makes this his plan” multi-layered contemplations. The ensuing “Mind Don’t Work” conveys a hazy, hypnotic charm that melds swaying acoustics with heartrending lyricism, exuding how “you just wanna feel alive” in the face of personal hardship; a Neil Young-esque guitar line hits especially hard in the final minute.
“Cold Feelings” is another standout, its anticipatory “waiting for some kind of sign” hopefulness striving to distance one’s mindful anxieties from reality — trying “to separate my body from my mind.” A title-touting allure resonates with its “cold feelings in the night” chilliness, especially. EP finale “In Another Time” then caps it all off with emotively impactful allure, arriving into a spine-tingling “the world was full of love” description of another place and time, entirely, in sharp contrast to present day malaise. The Evil in This World EP is a stirringly melancholic folk success from Mr. Charisma.
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This and other tracks featured this month can be streamed on the updating Obscure Sound’s ‘Emerging Singles’ Spotify playlist.
We discovered this release via MusoSoup.
