(Anti/Shock)

A different kind of folk-pop fusion

They wrote the music for the quirky film Little Miss Sunshine and once provided backing to Dita Von Teese’s burlesque routines, but that only gives you a small glimpse into DeVotchKa’s unusual musical world. This Denver-based band have been around for a decade making melting-pot music, with sounds from as far afield as Mexico and Eastern Europe, all served up with a gypsy swing. To that end, they employ oboe, accordion, violins, tuba, trumpets, Theremin, bouzouki, sousaphone and other oddities for a sound that’s ostensibly whimsical and oddly nostalgic but still with rock and roots links. This fourth album, again produced with Craig Schumacher (Calexico, Neko Case), easily flows from mariachi horns in Along The Way to toy pianos in The Clockwise Witness to an old-time waltz in Blessing In Disguise to the provincial French air of Strizzalo, and Basso Profundo could be Modest Mouse in the Mediterranean. Yet, behind the jumped-up frolic of the music, you can sense the seriousness of this project, from Mick Urata’s yearning voice to the precision of the playing. So there’s depth as well as breadth in these intriguing songs.           

***½

BILL HOLDSWORTH

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