If you like Ian MacKaye, and by that, I mean you like nearly everything he's done, and especially if you liked the Evens' first release, you will love this. Buy it. It's terrific.  Full text...

Get Evens isn't much of a departure to that of their debut. The songs seem almost a little more upbeat.  Full text...

Get Evens picks up where 12 Songs (2005) left off. The band's sense of dynamics and interplay has improved: Farina wisely relies less on delay effects and triggers on the traps, filling the the empty spaces of MacKaye's lone guitar by playing with rolls and double-time beats. It makes the stops in their music snap, and allows her to play with odd time signatures, such as "No Money" which opens with a 7/4 beat and crashes to a stop after a great chorus.  Full text...

Get Evens is as quiet and pretty as its predecessor, but the effortless ease is gone, replaced by a sort of busy anxiety.  Full text...

While the Evens' debut was a little rough around the edges at times, those imperfections have been buffed away for Get Evens. Farina is solid as ever behind the kit and, as a welcome surprise, gets a more even (pun intended) share of the spotlight vocally. MacKaye's no slouch, either: He manages to pull enough pop hooks out of his baritone guitar to keep the album sounding fresh throughout -- a worthy accomplishment given the limitations the pair are working with.   Full text...

Get Evens, unlike The Evens' debut, leaves us with something to look forward to: the possibility of Farina and MacKaye energizing their already bracing formula and giving us an album that'll make people forget about Fugazi reunions altogether.   Full text...

Ian MacKaye and Amy Farina explore their limits as songwriters, musicians and budding home-studio types on Get Evens. The duo strips down to nothing more than MacKaye's baritone guitar, Farina's drums and the duo's vocal give-and-take. In a day when punks turn to ProTools for inspiration, The Evens' minimalist recordings -- self-recorded in the confines of the Dischord House's basement -- to deliver a much-needed reminder that art isn't always about overcoming your shortcomings, but embracing them.   Full text...