Josh Evert
Photogenic Memory

Bio by Ever Kipp
Photos by Aliza Baran

Josh Evert is an audio engineer, songwriter, composer, and producer whose work bridges experimental process and emotionally grounded songwriting. Based in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, Evert’s music is defined by a palpable sense of place, meticulous textures, and a deep curiosity about how sound behaves in the natural world. His latest album, Photogenic Memory, is both a culmination and a reframing; an album written in fragments across more than a decade, then assembled with the clarity of hindsight. It is a record about how memory distorts, reframes, and sometimes - beautifully - gets it wrong. 

A frequent resident of artist programs across North America, Evert has developed projects while in residence at The Arctic Circle (2022), 360 Xochi Quetzal in Mexico (2018), Denali National Park (2017), ACRE (Artists’ Cooperative Residency and Exhibitions) (2016), and Homestead National Monument (2015). These environments have served not just as backdrops, but as collaborators, shaping both the sonic palette and conceptual framework of his recordings.

This relationship to landscape is central to releases like Braided River (2018), created entirely from the sound of plucked and sampled dead tree branches gathered in Denali National Park. By digitizing and mapping these organic textures into a fully chromatic MIDI instrument, Evert transformed raw environmental material into something precise, expressive, and unexpectedly melodic. A similar ethos carries through 7 Islands (2022), which began with field recordings captured in and around Great Smoky Mountains National Park and evolved into a sprawling, long-form experimental rock work built from loops, layered instrumentation, and dense vocal arrangements.

Alongside his solo work, Evert is deeply embedded in the broader Milwaukee music community. He co-owns and operates Silver City Studios, an artist-run, affordable recording space that has, since 2017, supported a wide spectrum of creative output. The studio has hosted and recorded artists including SistaStrings, Caroline Polachek, and Danny L Harle, while also serving as a hub for regional collaborators such as Fellow Kinsman, Ellie Jackson, Caley Conway, Mol Sullivan, Barely Civil, and Known Moons. Evert has worked closely with performers Johanna Rose and Wes Tank, contributing to projects that blur the line between internet culture and independent music.

Earlier in his career, Evert was the frontman of Milwaukee mainstay The Fatty Acids, releasing four self-recorded albums between 2008 and 2016 that established his long-running commitment to DIY production and analog sensibility. He continues that collaborative spirit in Dinner Set Gang, a project with longtime creative partner Derek DeVinney, which has produced both the La Fata Turchina EP and the full-length Are You Someplace Else? (2022).

Evert’s work also extends into film and television, where his compositions have appeared in projects such as Al Jazeera’s Faultlines, The Laura Flanders Show, and productions for Planned Parenthood of Wisconsin and The Makwa Initiative, as well as independent films including The Sacred and The Snake and We Are Not Ghouls (2024).

The songs on Photogenic Memory trace back to residencies at Homestead National Monument and ACRE, to stretches of backpacking through Latin America, to the isolation of the pandemic, and to recent moments of personal loss. That temporal sprawl is not incidental; it becomes part of the album’s core idea. The title itself points to the ways we revise and aestheticize the past. Photogenic Memory explores how personal and collective histories are softened, distorted, and re-presented, whether in intimate relationships or in broader societal narratives. 

Sonically, the album reflects the tension between fragmentation and cohesion. Glitch-driven rhythms collide with post-rock intricacy and a compositional sensibility informed by modern classical structures, all rendered through meticulously crafted production. Beyond structure and melody, the record is deeply concerned with sound itself. Evert’s evolution as a mix engineer and producer becomes part of the concept, subtly “correcting” or reframing earlier material, reinforcing the album’s meditation on revision and perception.

Despite its abstraction, Photogenic Memory is anchored by pop instinct. Strong melodic cores and memorable motifs run throughout, revealing themselves gradually beneath the surface detail. It is, at once, intricate and immediate. While its deeper shadows reveal themselves with intentional listening, the record is eminently engaging; a compelling, stimulating experience.

The record, naturally, reflects Evert’s collaborative ecosystem. It features contributions from artists including Mol Sullivan, Emma Witmer, Barry Paul Clark, Rob Weiss, D’Amato (Beauty Steps), Ryan Thomas Reeve, Will Hansen, Sean Behling, and Andy Kosanke. 

At its core, Photogenic Memory is infused with a sense of urgency about the role of art itself. For Evert, finishing the record meant holding onto a simple belief - that art matters. That artists matter. Across disciplines and formats, Evert’s output reflects a consistent ethos: to treat sound as both material and environment, and to build music that feels at once pulled raw from the fount of inspiration yet is deliberately shaped, intentional, and compelling.