By: Mary Rea
A crowning moment for Denver’s darling, DeVotchKa, came with this summer’s soundtrack for “Little Miss Sunshine” – a collaboration which has taken their ethno folk indie rock to a wider and more diverse audience. Thursday night’s main room show at First Avenue found the crowd primed and ready for the band to outdo their July performance at the Varsity [read Billy Grave’s review of their previous show here] and they did not disappoint.
Warming up a November audience in Minneapolis is no easy feat, but it was handled resolutely by Shara Worden and her band My Brightest Diamond. Shara and her Gibson opened with the enchanting “Dragonfly,” this reviewer’s favorite of the set – except possibly her “channeling” of Edith Piaf, which was over the top. The pleasure of a voice which sounded alternately like Sarah McLaughlin, Beth Gibbons (Portishead) and Shirley Manson (Garbage) was overshadowed by instrumentation that seemed to diffuse its intensity.
DeVotchKa’s set featured nearly every song from their 2005 release How It Ends, as well as a couple of gems from this year’s Curse Your Little Heart, including a tender “Something Stupid.” The teasing beat of the instrumental “Lunnaya Pogonka” featured aerialists who danced on red ribbons and were suspended out in the middle of the dazzled audience. The only unfortunate aspect of the evening, to these ears, was the lack of good balance in the mix, obscuring much of Nick Urata’s vocal nuance and muddying the quieter moments on violin and accordion. The audience didn’t seem to mind at all as they listened appreciatively or danced with the kind of abandon usually reserved for the family wedding reception.
The band’s edgy sonic drama comprised more than just the nostalgia of upright base, tuba, accordion, trumpet and violin; it was more about songs that linger in the bones, tip a hat to heritage and shake the dust off musical apathy. DeVotchKa captured a collective sense of wonder at where we’ve been musically and where we’re going. It’s more than globe-trotting pop; it’s a galvanic, romantic and heart-pounding sound for jaded music lovers everywhere. When’s the last time you almost cried and then danced your happy ass off minutes later?
Location Info:
First Avenue
Artist Info: DeVotchKa, My Brightest Diamond
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