Touring new album, A Mad and Faithful Telling, DeVotchKa made a much welcomed but curiously under attended return to Birmingham (after their Bar Academy gig last November...ahhh it seems like only yesterday). Like a more serious Gogol Bordello, DeVotchKa mix all sorts of influences (Russian folk, clasical music, gypsy jazz, a bit of flamenco, opera...basically anything goes) into an often heartbreaking, but always life enhancing, swirl of loveliness. And you can't beat a swirl of loveliness on a cold Tuesday evening in Birmingham.
The new album builds on their previous releases, a little fuller perhaps, but still retaining that magical 'out of timeness' (it's my review...I'll write gibberish if I want) that perhaps puts them at odds with a lot of listeners, certainly the 'chatterers' who stuck to the bar cackling over their half pints of 'Carling'...I despair...really I do. They should be detongued. At the very least. Anyway, if your love has left you, if you don't have a love, if you wish you didn't have a love (new single Transliterator seems to cover most of those bases)...or you just fancy drinking a bottle of wodka and dancing around like a nutjob (cop your ears around Comrade Z), DeVotchKa provide the perfect soundtrack.
What a shame that the audience was not on their best behaviour. I am so looking forward to seeing this band in Berlin. I am in love with their new album!
ReplyDeleteHi Tara,
ReplyDeleteThanks for your comment! Yes, some of the audience were less than attentive - their loss though. DeVotchKa were as brilliant as ever...you'll have a great time. You're right too, the new album is wonderful. Let me know what you think of the gig over in Berlin.