For the better part of a decade, DeVotchKa existed under the radar. Did they complain? No. With their lively, Old World-infused sound, drawing on Yiddish, Romany, and mariachi traditions, toil and travel seemed to suit the Denver quartet. Then, as it is wont to do, Hollywood spoiled everything. In 2005, the band scored the Sundance smash Little Miss Sunshine. A well-timed EP of covers, Curse Your Little Heart, arrived soon after. Now DeVotchKa are free to be pigeonholed with the best. Lucky them.
A Mad And Faithful Telling, their fourth full-length, does not squander the opportunity. The disc opens with “Basso Profundo”, a ramshackle blast of low-end brass, clattering percussion, and start-stop tempos. Think “gypsy punk,” minus the air of violence. Throughout this ten-song set, the band returns periodically to that template; the antic, wordless “Comrade Z” seems tailored to accompany sepia-tone footage of immigrant life on the Lower East Side.
But the cuts which defy expectations propel the album forward…and in zany circles. “Along The Way” finds frontman Nick Urata in full swoon, a spectral Roy Orbison suspended over rising and falling strings. If fuzz guitar replaced accordion, “Head Honcho” would pass as a first-rate surf-rocker. And kudos to Jeanie Schroder for anchoring the waltz-time “Blessing In Disguise” with gracefully sustained sousaphone tones.
Reuniting DeVotchKa with producer Craig Schumacher (who has shown a similar proclivity for diversity in his work with Calexico and Neko Case), A Mad And Faithful Feeling meets its title’s promise by dishing out equal doses of new music that is both.
