in june 1985, during the "bad moon rising" tour, bert left the band and was replaced by shelley. the new lineup quickly began working on new material for their third album. the band signed to sst as, by 1986, label founder greg ginn was anxious for the label to move away from its american hardcore roots. sonic youth took a break from the tour and finished the writing for "evol". in march 1986, the band recorded the album at bc studio with new york recording icon martin bisi. "evol" was the second time that the band had worked with new york singer and performance artist lydia lunch. lunch had shared vocals on "bad moon rising"<nowiki>'</nowiki>s "death valley '69", and on this record, she co-wrote the song "marilyn moore".