Evanescence - My Immortal

The year was 2003 and one of the few popular new band that I liked was Evanescence. They had just released their debut album “Fallen” and their first single “Bring Me to Life” was a pretty big hit at the time. I liked front woman Amy Lee, she had an strong voice for rock and roll and she presented herself really well in interviews where she came across as intelligent and creative. I would have probably have barely noticed Evanescence or remembered “Fallen” as so well as I do now, if it had not been for the strength of their second hit song “My Immortal.”

I would have to go and check to make sure, but “My Immortal” was most likely my favorite song for the entirety of that year. While “Bring Me to Life” brought the rock and roll energy we all crave and need, “My Immortal” was deeply emotional and invoked very powerful images and ideas of fantastic story telling about literal immortals. “My Immortal” is a song I go back and listen to all the time, I must have listened to the album “Fallen” a half dozen times, but “My Immortal” thousands of times I have taken the audio from that track into my waiting ears.

As a side note, I do really like the song “Imaginary,” also on the album “Fallen.”

A few years later, in 2006, Evanescence released their second album “The Open Door,” and the big hit from that album was “Call Me When You’re Sober.” I vaguely remember enjoying the second Evanescene album, but I do not own a copy of it, and it did not connect to me anywhere nearly as much as the first album, and I remember not being very taken with “Call Me When You’re Sober.” This song was inspired by Amy Lee’s ex-boyfriend who was contributed to the end of their relationship with his alcoholism. The ex-boyfriend in question was Shaun Morgan, the lead guitarist of Seether, they were pretty popular back then. I can certainly appreciate an artist’s desire to write about what they know, and in turn, what they are experiencing in their personal life, and I additionally respect that such an event in an artists life can be a powerful source of inspiration, however “Call Me When You’re Sober” felt a little like dirty laundry, not a big deal really, but not exactly my cup of tea. Maybe it was because of this that I never fell in love with the second Evanescence album; I know I have listened to it a few times, but I do not remember it all that well.

After that I kind of forgot about Evanescence. I did not even know they released a third album in 2011, this time it was their self title album. I should probably give it a listen sometime. The only thing that remained a strong presence in my playlists and memory was “My Immortal.”

Let it be known that I am rather fond of violinist Lindsey Stirling: http://colinkellymusicinreview.blogspot.ca/2016/08/lindsey-Stirling-shadows.html

Lindsey Stirling has done many covers on her youtube channel, and my favorite among them is surely “My Immortal.”

Lindsey Stirling Cover:

This cover stood out to me as unique. Most of Lindsey’s covers are classical or pop music, this is a rock ballad, not entirely a dramatic departure from habit, but notable to me due to my fondness of the original.

I am not sure if I am the target audience for Evanescence or not, surely my individual listening ranks rather low in overall importance, but Evanescence has done something that reminded me of them in a big way, they teamed up with Lindsey Stirling, and recorded a new studio version of “My Immortal.”

Synthesis Version:

Instant love.

Before I even clicked on the video to watch it, I knew I was going to enjoy it. It is sort of meta in a way, someone covers your song, so you team up with them to cover the song together. I can only think of one other time that has happened, Helloween and Hellsongs, I will write a blog post about that eventually.

This new album by Evanescence “Synthesis” is almost entirely remastered songs from their three previous albums. The aim for the album of “Synthesis” is to incorporate an orchestral arrangement and electronica styles into Evanescence’s rock and roll songs. To this end it seems logical to bring in a popular violinist, who is familiar and supportive of Evanescence’s body of work, hence the recruitment of Linsey Stirling.

There are a handful of original songs on “Synthesis” and among them is “Hi-Lo” which also features Lindsey Stirling and not just a guest musician, she cocreator on this track.

Hi-Lo:

Given the relationship that must have grown from their collaborative effort, it is not to surprising Evanescence and Lindsey Stirling are now our tour together. There are no dates for Western Canada, but the tour’s end happens in Washington state in September so if additional shows are booked it could make sense to add Vancouver, Calgary and Edmonton in October. One can hope, because I think it would be very interesting to see this show live. I would very much like to hear the songs from “Fallen” that I remember and enjoy so well rearranged in new ways, and also, take in the music I had forgotten from “The Open Door” and the songs I never noticed from the self titled album. Plus, Lindsey Stirling, that would be fun.

I will have to get a copy of “Synthesis” soon, if for no other reason then just for “My Immortal,” also I am curious if Stirling appears on any of the other tracks.

Until next month, keep on rocking in the free world.

- King of Braves