By Keith Walsh
One of the first things I noticed when listening to music by Calgary-based singer/songwriter Eva X was her love for minor keys –in the melodies, harmonies, and chord changes.  Her tune “Love In Virtual” has vocal harmonies that evoke the middle ages, while the background is sublime electronica. “Subsume” has a haunting sound that evokes ancient feels, while “Black Blood” has a vocal melody built  on the Phrygian mode. “A Softer World” also has many of these features.

I wondered what the person behind this mysterious music would be like. Eva X’s musical persona is somewhat intimidating, featuring goth attire and unforgiving takes on gender politics. Talking to her on the phone I found her anything but scary.  Despite writing the lines: “I don’t want love/I want revenge/I want your memory gone/I want you dead/ I don’t want to talk/I want the haunting to end/I want my blood black and staining your bed,” Eva X, aka Gaby Marie Gustafson, was approachable and our conversation lively.

I asked her about the minor keys in her music. Is there something medieval going on?  “I wouldn’t have picked medieval as an influence,” she said, “but I do love my metal. A lot of my harmonies and love of minor scales comes from there.” The darkness and melancholy of metal does come through in her lovely, synth-centric sounds. (Heavy guitars feature on the remix by German metal band Grendel of Eva X’s upcoming single “Machine,” to be released September 24).

Gustafson played guitar in her previous band The Vintage, but with Eva X she’s poised to set the world on fire with synthesizers. Along with co-producers Shane Stephenson and Adam Mah, Gustafson is creating radio-ready electronica with catchy beats and memorable lyrics and melodies. I asked her what  her primary goal is in creating music. “I want you dancing,” she said. “My idea is to kind of stick in the back of your head and take root.”

‘Synthpop, Straight Up’
Gustafson modestly said she’s ‘somewhat trained on guitar and piano,’ but from her work producing pieces like the EPs “Electrowoman” and  “A Softer World” as solo projects I’m sure there’s that’s an understatement. She told me she brings the ideas in her head to the piano to construct melodies and harmonies, before going to her computer to add beats and synths. Gustafson uses Ableton Live to craft her sounds. “I’m kind of a big VST person,” she said. “I use Massive X, I’m a big Diva and RePro person as well. I really like a lot of RePro’s product. I use those a fair bit to use some of my leads.”

There’s some EDM in Eva X’s music, wrapped in popular song structures. “I  consider what I do as synthpop, straight up. I feel like that can be sometimes like ambient, be EDM sometimes.”  I asked Gaby if, being newly married, she might be writing more love songs. “Everything I have after the last year is still kind of existential angst, ” she said. “I’m very much writing out  into the state of the world. I mean, never say never….”

Gustafson’s husband is goth rocker Erik Gustfason of Adoration Destroyed, who is also the boss at EG Cine where he created videos for “Subsume,” “Black Blood,” and Eva X’s upcoming release “Machine.” It’s a safe bet you’ll be hearing much more about Eva X.

Eva X On Bandcamp
Eva X On YouTube
Eva X On Twitter
Eva X On Spotify

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