Daily Discovery: Brooklyn’s Evolfo Considers Death From A New Perspective On “White Foam”

“I was sitting in my home studio thinking about how we had been told our apartment was possibly haunted and how there had been an exorcism there at one point,” Matt Gibbs told American Songwriter. “I started to wonder: what would it feel like to be a departed soul, tethered to reality? What would one’s awareness feel like? Would they know if they were dead or not?”

Ruminating on this, Gibbs—a member of the 7-piece, Brooklyn-based psych-rock collective, Evolfo—eventually found himself exploring the idea with a guitar in his hands. “I had just learned a bunch of Leonard Cohen songs and my fingers sorta naturally started doing some Leonard Cohen-like guitar moves,” he said. “Then, I started singing ‘White foam, white foam’ for a while. After that, the rest of the lyrics kinda fell out really naturally, with me in this pleasant feeling, thoughtful state. It was a nice experience. Several days later, Rafferty and I focused the lyric a little together and then we tracked it with the band.”

The end result was “White Foam,” the closing track from the group’s new album, Site out of Mind, which dropped on June 18. With a haunting melody and a hypnagogic vibe, the tune shows off Gibbs’ knack for evocative songwriting. 

“This song is an abstract story from the perspective of a person who has accidentally died, detailing the qualities of a liminal space between life and death,” he explained. “I want to convey an experience. The message is the feeling that this song gives you if you relax and sink into it. It originated in my head and it felt like it made life a little brighter, or at least a little more interesting. I just wanted to extract this positive experience and try to pass it on to others. This is the closest I can get to explaining why I do what I do.”

Throughout Site out of Mind, Evolfo prove themselves to be a dynamic outfit, delivering catchy psych romps with a bombastic flare. Yet, closing the record, “White Foam” shows the group’s more contemplative side, alluding to their holistic talents as music-makers.

Evolfo’s new album Site out of Mind is out now and available everywhere—listen to the closing track, “White Foam,” below: