The Stars at Saint Andrea

by

Devics

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I have been following the devics' music now for a few years. It never ceases to amaze me how much they continue to grow as musicians and change their style. The newest cd "the stars at Saint Andrea" is another example of just that. It is remarkably different from their last effort "my beautiful sinking ship" and their best work to date. Sara Lov has the most expressive and mellifluous voice I have heard. She is not just a singer but a narrator and a poet. Dustin O'Halloran plays almost all of the instruments this time around and apparently they wrote and recorded this record on their own in an old farmhouse in Italy. Don't worry Ed Maxwell is still in the mix adding his gorgeous upright bass and for the live shows they have 2 new members. "The stars at Saint Andrea" is the perfect mix of Analogue electronic sounds and organic instrumentation. Their music has too wide a range to pinpoint the source or diagnose a genre. If you are already a devics fan, you are going to LOVE this record. If it's your first time...I'm jealous.

Speaking as someone who has bought and treasured everything this band has ever been willing to sell, this one left me flat. I think the first problem is that they've almost completely lost their rhythm section, other than a couple songs featuring Ed on bass. The songs in which both Ed and a session drummer are brought in, such as "My True Love," instantly jumped out to me as the strongest tracks and most like their older albums. One-man-band Dustin O'Halloran is immeasurably talented, but I think all the double-tracking he did in recording this album mostly by himself subtly changed the soul of the music. It no longer has that tightly meshed and textured feel. It's thinner, and the empty spaces that a drummer or a bassist (who digs bass more than Dustin) ought to have filled became more noticeable to me with each listening. Electronic drums don't cut it, and that's the other problem: electronics. Dustin is almost as good on the synth as he is at every other instrument, but none of it makes the songs better. Everything that's special about these songs comes from Dustin's guitar or piano and Sara's vocals. There are many, many bands that do electronics as well as Devics. There are a few who can match their moodiness (hence the unfortunate comparisons with Portishead, a great band but not really what Devics is/was about). I can count on one finger the bands that were doing this with an authentic, vintage sound, using no special effects other than tremolo. So because of that I think this is Devic's "least special" album. I really hope they have Ed full time along with a drummer on their next album. Maybe with a rhythm section in place the electronics will have more to contribute (if they must go in that direction).

In any event, I would give all of Devic's three previous full-length albums a shot before coming back for this one.