Originally Published on July 3rd, 2026
First of all, I’d like to thank Jeff for inviting me to write a guest review here on Fifteen Minutes Of Fame. I first discovered Jeff’s music through his melancholic folk songs, especially Beattyville and Sunny Side, both of which also appear on this record. I also got to know him through his wonderfully thoughtful music reviews; but this isn’t an article about how life-changing those reviews can be. This is about Jeff as a songwriter.
Evaporate
Released through NECCO Records on January 26, 2026, Evaporate consists of nine songs and runs for roughly 34 minutes. According to Jeff’s Bandcamp notes, the album is the result of nearly two years of writing, distilled from a collection of almost sixty songs. That careful selection shows. Nothing here feels like filler.
The A-side opens with the title track We Evaporate, the song that ultimately convinced me to order the album on vinyl. I immediately fell in love with its simplicity: subtle electronic textures, beautiful vocal harmonies, silences that are a vital part of the arrangement and above all, lyrics that quietly wrestle with mortality without ever becoming sentimental.
‘Cause we all know the lyrics
And how the melodies can bend
Even if there’s different music
We still know how it will end‘
The title track doesn’t argue against death, nor does it romanticize it. Instead, it quietly accepts it. Death appears not as an adversary, but as an old companion who arrives carrying a harmonica (an instrument which I especially love), turning the inevitable into something strangely familiar and almost comforting.
We Evaporate is followed by two folk songs, Beattyville and Sunny Side, which contain something that has become very rare: raw and honest vulnerability. Where We Evaporate reflects on broad philosophical questions, songs like Beattyville and Sunny Side remain deeply personal. I love when a body of work can do both. These two songs embody what the singer-songwriter tradition means to me: intimate stories told so honestly that the listener feels as though they are sitting in the same room as the person who wrote them.
So I pre-ordered the vinyl edition, and when it safely arrived here in Germany I immediately put it on. This feels like an album that deserves to be experienced from beginning to end rather than shuffled between playlists.
The B-side opens with Simple Concepts, a beautiful declaration of love built on restraint rather than grand gestures. From there the record leaves room for nostalgia, revisiting old places and memories before ending with an unexpectedly thoughtful social commentary and a plea for compassion.
Throughout the album Jeff experiments with different musical colors. Folk remains the foundation, but spoken word passages, synthesizers, tasteful vocal layering and recurring use of modulation and Auto-Tune, particularly on the opening and closing tracks, create a subtle thread that ties the record together.
Listeners expecting a traditional folk record may initially be surprised by these stylistic detours, but for me they are part of the album’s identity. Rather than sounding stylistically scattered, the record feels like a journey through different emotional landscapes. Those songs all have Jeff’s very personal signature.
The album is full of details waiting to be discovered: recurring lyrical ideas, crossed-out lyrics in the vinyl booklet, possible Taylor Swift references (unless I’m reading too much into them), unanswered questions, and quiet moments that reveal themselves only after repeated listens. Perhaps that’s the point. Sometimes the questions matter more than the answers.
Ultimately, Evaporate feels less like a collection of songs than a journey through different moments in a life. It visits poverty, addiction, violence, heartbreak and mortality without ever becoming cynical. Instead, there is an underlying current of hope, compassion and steady resilience. Jeff invites us to see the world through his eyes for thirty-four minutes, and if we’re willing to listen closely, there is much to discover; not only musically, but personally as well.
I’ve been listening to this album several times a week since it arrived. Every spin reveals another detail I hadn’t noticed before. To me, that’s one of the clearest signs that a record is worth owning on vinyl.
Evaporate is one of those records. It rewards attentive listening, grows with every return and reminds us why albums are still worth experiencing as complete works. I can’t think of a contemporary folk record that would be a more meaningful addition to a carefully curated vinyl collection.
Final Thoughts
Last month, I had asked a few people to write a review for Fifteen Minutes of Fame. I asked them to review artists who had responded to a post I left on Threads, but Novelley politely asked if she could review any artist she wanted. I happily agreed. I had no idea, though, the artist she would choose would be me.
A couple weeks pass and I receive a short, simple message from her with a link to google docs with her written review. Admittedly, I was so busy at the time, I didn’t immediately open the file. I asked her to send a headshot so I could do an “about the author” section and she replied with two photos holding my album. Still didn’t connect the dots.
After a few days, I opened the file and saw “Evaporate by Jeff Thomas.” I immediately started crying. This was in no way my intent when I reached for guest authors. I wasn’t expecting this kind, warm, and thoughtful symbol of gratitude from this infinitely wonderful person. Novelley has, for a long time, been one of my favorite artists, not only to have been featured on FMOF, but over all. It was her song Trembling Waltz that appeared out of nowhere the moment I had determined I wanted to do Evaporate as a true folk record. Reading how this album made her feel has been such a humbling experience. One I won’t forget. It is serendipitous that this review happened at the two year anniversary of FMOF. When I started this, it was for this reason I began writing reviews. I wanted independent musicians to have something the could read, share, and remember for years to come. I would have never imagined that this platform would inspire an author to give me that same gift.
Thank you, Novelley.
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