Evergreen is the fourth studio album by American rock band Pvris, released on July 14, 2023, through Hopeless Records. It was preceded by the release of five singles,[7] the first of which was a double A-side of "Animal" and "Anywhere but Here",[2] followed by "Goddess",[3] "Good Enemy",[4] "Love Is a..."[5] and "Evergreen".[6]
Background
Lynn Gunn described the album as "a reclamation of control in our post-pandemic culture, posing a complex discussion on fame, technology, spectacle, and female autonomy", also elaborating that it is "not [her] job to cater to certain trends or people's nostalgia" and she has to "always embrace the risks of change and trust that each stage of [her] music's life will resonate with whoever it's meant to".[4]
Evergreen received a score of 80 out of 100 on review aggregator Metacritic based on six critics' reviews, indicating "generally favorable reviews".[8]AllMusic's Neil Z. Yeung felt that Lyndsey Gunnulfsen's "evolution continues, building upon the promise of 2020's Use Me while laser-focusing her attack with equal parts melody and sheer force", as an "ineffably angst-packed energy surges through the front half of this set".[9] Reviewing the album for Kerrang!, Aliya Chaudhry wrote that Gunnulfsen "pushes the idea of what Pvris can be even more, delving further into her hip-hop and R&B influences, culminating in an eclectic and electrifying collection of songs, and what is Pvris' most evolved offering to date".[11]
DIY's Emma Wilkes noted that Evergreen "generally favours chunkier, harder sounds over intricacy, particularly where its maximalist-leaning production is concerned, to the extent that it feels like a thick, silvery fog hangs over most of its songs".[10] Caitlin Chatterton of The Line of Best Fit opined that the album "settl[es] Gunnulfsen in the gap between her alt-rock influences and glitterball tendencies", describing it as "a testament to Gunnulfsen's growth" as well as "quietly confident".[12]
Ghost Cult's Morgan Y. Evans called Evergreen,"...a very ambitious album and frankly by far the most thematically well-rounded and best effort from Pvris yet. Lyndsey Gerd Gunnulfsen has seamlessly planted a flag on the moon here, showing it was her that made this project special all along. Not only a queer champion, Gunnulfsen is a top-notch creator and performer who can back it up with grade-A material with startling philosophical depth amidst the beats and hooks."
Vicky Greer of Louder[13] that "when Evergreen is at its best, it bursts with life, but after such a promising beginning, you can't help but feel short-changed" following "its disappointing second half".[1] Jesper L. of Sputnikmusic stated that "the bulk of Evergreen does little more than yeeting a distorted riff at you, copy-pasting vocal melodies on top and subsequently repeating a few lines by way of a chorus" and concluded, "none of the songs here are particularly memorable or uh, good".[7]
