Mike Evin has been wearing his heart on his sleeve for over 15 years, writing immediate and disarming piano pop songs with adventurous melodies that live inside you. The new jazz-tinged breakup ballad “I Almost Called You Babe,” his first new music in four years, may be his most emotionally raw song yet. 

The intense song was written freshly after a big breakup, a couple of weeks before Evin was scheduled to go into the studio to record a new batch of songs. Almost pulling the plug on the recording sessions, Evin set aside some time to write and process his feelings. “I Almost Called You Babe” is a snapshot of those murky days after a breakup. Though never intended to be heard by anyone else, Evin and producer Chris Stringer (Rose Cousins, Timber Timbre) realized the song’s potency and captured it during an agonizing couple of hours in the studio.

“I wasn’t sure I would even be able to go through with the project, but I decided it would be a healthy distraction,” explains Evin. “Obviously there was a lot to process from the breakup, and I gave myself time to write as a form of therapy.”