Even

Australia's Even distinguishes itself from You Am I through its open embrace of classic pop and rock from the 1960s and 1970s. Ashley Naylor, the group's singer and guitarist, centers his life on making and performing music, routinely dividing his time among several projects while directing Even and serving as a supporting player for other artists. At 17 he led the Swarm, yet soon set aside that band's indie direction shaped by R.E.M. and the Smiths in order to pursue the classic pop that drives him. Even assembled in March 1994 alongside former Swarm member Matthew Cotter, with bass duties filled by Wally Kempton, who continued moonlighting from his role in Melbourne power-pop band the Meanies. A year later Naylor was again splitting commitments between Even and guitar work in Fragment, the outfit fronted by his songwriting partner Danny Vertessy; Fragment issued two albums under the name Rail that followed the Teenage Fanclub approach. Even meanwhile obtained its own recording agreement, launching in May 1995 with the CD EP In Stereo, then the Ten to Forty-Six EP, and the debut album Less Is More. By 1998 both Ashley Naylor and Wally Kempton had concentrated their efforts on Even for the second album, Come Again. In 1999 Naylor launched another side venture, the Grapes, which paired him with singer Sherry Rich and veered toward the country style of Gram Parsons and Emmylou Harris without abandoning the pop sensibility that defines his work.