THE CREEK THAT wraps around Sam Evian’s analog recording studio/abode in New York’s Catskills may rise only to his chest, but its influence on the singer/songwriter-guitarist’s new power-pop album is immeasurably deep. The evidence is right there in the record’s title: Plunge (Flying Cloud/Thirty Tigers).
“Last year, I was looking for a way to get through the winter blues, to kind of stimulate myself into making healthy decisions, and I learned about cold plunging,” Evian explains. Cold-water immersion has long been touted as offering health benefits for mind and body. The stream running through his parcel offered Evian a ready source. “There are a lot of chemical reasons and benefits as to why it works and why it’s good for you,” he says. “It’s super cold, and it’s challenging to do it.”
The fortitude required to take those chilling dunks went hand in hand with Evian’s efforts to compose the cuts on , his fourth solo album. He found the practice helped to get him out of his comfort zone, stop self-medicating and focus on the music. That continued into the recording process, which he did with a selection of unusual guitars — including a 1962 Epiphone
