New York rock musician Devin told The Silver Tongue Online that he is touring Europe this week with his debut album ”Romancing,” already making quite a bit of noise in the European circles.
“Romancing” was released in April via French Kiss records. It contains some 18 songs, some slightly related to love but most certainly related to daydreaming and escapism.
“It is about romancing the audiences,” said Devin. “That’s what you do when you get up on stage and try to engage your audience, try to make them listen to you.”
Devin, who just quit his job in a shipping warehouse in Brooklyn, said he spends most of his time thinking about songs. It all begins with percussion, he says, before it morphs into the great punk rockabilly he performs at the speed of light with his fellow musicians.
“Romancing” is an honest, straight up cupid shot into your guts from a Buddy Holly look-alike who seems enamored not just with an era but with an ethos of rock and roll and the genre’s historic flirtations with original sin and death.
“It’s not about nostalgia, it’s about references,” said Devin. “I love that rock and roll from the 1970s that looked back at the 1950′s and updated that sound. ”
And that is certainly what he does with “Romancing.” The album has strong references the past but it clearly speaks to today’s jaded generation who see love songs as sent currency. The album is an electrifying Deja-vu where we hear allusions, alliterations, inspirations and even heavy borrowing from a series of musicians and genres ranging from The Stooges, Tom Petty, The White Stripes and The Flat Duo Jets. And I am the only one hearing Billy Holliday here as Devin sings “My Solitude”, the slow-paced voyeuristic love song with a hint of morphine?
The Brooklyn native and his band play fast and astonishingly well. The album helps us channel that very particular emotional memory of that very single night at a club when you found yourself dancing, falling in love and vomiting later.
Have a taste of what it could be like to watch Devin live.
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