DeVotchKa - 100 Lovers (Anti-; 2011)

"What bands are you into lately?" When people ask me that, more often than not my mind goes completely blank for a second or two. I try to remember what I've listened to most recently on my mp3 player and evaluate whether it is worthy of a mention. Then I usually just say "Parts and Labor is a cool band." (New record this week, post will follow sometime soon). After a short discussion, the conversation moves on and only then do the I think of all of the other bands I should have mentioned. Among those names, nearly always is DeVotchKa. For the past couple of years, they are a band I routinely turn to on my commute. I listen to them at least few times each month. So now it's payback for all the times I should have brought them up.

A buddy of mine from graduate school introduced me to DeVotchKa in 2005 or so. At the time, it seemed like a lot of bands were making waves by combining rock and Eastern European folk music. I liked the sound a little bit, but didn't make it much past Beirut and the odd song here and there from the music blogs. It wasn't until watching Little Miss Sunshine, which featured DeVotchKa prominently, that the band really clicked for me. Their music goes well beyond an amplified gypsy party. There are southwestern sounds and really beautiful, classic vocal melodies. The melodies got stuck in my head and I was left humming "How it Ends" to myself for a few days until my eMusic account refreshed.

Reading reviews of DeVotchKa's latest record, 100 Lovers, some folks seem a little surprised that we're not being immediately treated to an accordion hoedown. Instead, the album opens with a fairly majestic, string-embellished four song mini-suite of huge-sounding music. There's a lot of feeling in Nick Urata's vocals. Bows and guitar picks flickering away. Skittering drums and brisk piano runs. It's a very full sound to start the record and it stirs the emotions. My wife said that the second song, "All the Sand in all the Sea,"  "tore out my heart, cried tears into the hole that was left, and then stuffed the hole full of roses." (Music has very little effect on her.) There is still a definite international flavor to these songs, especially with sitar drone sound on "The Common Good." So, while I may not immediately picture a man cranking a music box with a monkey on his shoulder when I hit play, I don't think that is boring or even unusual for the band. 

The rest of the record is nearly as good as its opening run and does have a lot more in common with the DeVotchKa of previous records. Perhaps its the Little Miss Sunshine connection, but these songs really do have a cinematic quality to them. Each conjures up a vision that changes with your mood. The front-and-center guitar and accordion (concertina maybe?) that starts "The Man from San Sebastian" reminds me of a 007 film. Probably Roger Moore. "Bad Luck Heels" starts off with a spaghetti-western feel but has "ohhs" reminiscent of the theme from Breakfast and Tiffany's. Mancini meets Morricone. Eastwood on guitar, Hepburn on trumpet. And it's only a matter of time before the whistling beginning intro of "Exhaustible" is used to sell Honda hybrids. The song has that hand-in-your pockets ramble that seems to make the ad-men crazy these days. I never said the images that pop into my mind would win Oscars (or even a Clio), but it's kind of cool to have music that inspires such a response from the listener. In short, a truly engaging record.

DeVotchKa - All The Sand in all the Sea
DeVotchKa - The Common Ground
DeVotchKa - Bad Luck Heels

Make the jump for a few of videos including one from Little Miss Sunshine. Even if you don't like the song, the movie footage will warm your heart. Awwwwwwww. Stay off drugs Abigail Breslin. You too, Greg Kinnear.