I’m a contributing writer for The Agit Reader, a weekly music webzine based in Brooklyn. Here’s a recent review that I wrote about DeVotchKa’s new album “100 Lovers.”
Listening to DeVotchKa is like careening around in a chariot fueled by molten chutzpah. The Denver foursome blends Romani, Bolero, Mariachi, Germanic, and Slavic rhythms with indie fervor to create a profoundly nomadic musical experience. Its fifth studio album, 100 Lovers, was produced by Craig Schumacher (Calexico, M. Ward, Neko Case) and recorded in the Arizona desert, and though it offers guest performances by members of Calexico and percussionist Mauro Refosco (David Byrne, Thom Yorke), it spotlights frontman Nick Urata’s thundering desperation through elegantly eerie groans of theremin, trumpet, and accordion.
Following the gypsy folklore to which it pays homage, DeVotchKa’s sound is roving and mysterious. All 12 of 100 Lovers’ songs force you to behold the pleading, warbling tenor bursting from the throat of Urata, whose mammoth soundscapes can also be found in the soundtracks of Little Miss Sunshine, I Love You Phillip Morris, and the television show Weeds. “All the Band in All the Sea” and “100 Other Lovers” harvest the volcanic momentum, the latter of which has been set to a babushka-starring stop-motion video. Bouncy and incandescent and accompanied by a children’s choir, “Exhaustible” is a splendid lone ray of optimism. 100 Lovers is a sublime killer of doldrums that dissects such lucid ephemera as sinking ships and embarrassing grace. Enjoy the 45-minute multicultural ride, and don’t tell Mom you didn’t wear a seatbelt.
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