borrowed tunes

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March 31, 2005

devin davis :: lonely people of the world, unite!

This is one of those little records that wants to be a big one, and it succeeds. Lonely People of the World, Unite! was recorded almost singlehandedly in a home studio by Devin Davis himself, with nominal assitance from horn and pedal steel players, and, as a work in progress since 2001, it somehow sounds both obsessively crafted and completely spontaneous; an album-lover's album that almost seems fortunate to hang together.

It's a collection of short, classically-styled pop songs which work in nearly every possible 60s and 70s canonical rock mode, without ever sounding like pastiche - because the songs themselves are impeccably constructed and Davis won't take no for an answer as he sells them by singing.

While it's clear that Ray Davies provides the bedrock inspiration for the tunes' narrative detail and winding paths, there's a whole glorious mess going on, a master class taught by "Favorite Thing" bluster and "Tenth Avenue Freeze Out" swagger and "Suffragette City" glam and "Baba O'Reilly" crunch and "For Everyman" ease and "Don't Ask Me No Questions" boogie. (In truth, speaking of "Suffragette City", that's the one weakest moment of the record: he sings "shark city" over a virtually identical backing.)

There are giant choruses and Beach Boys harmonies, layered percussion, and orchestrated brass. There's even a Pink Floyd moment. When the kitchen sink gets thrown in, I find more than a passing resemblance to post-modern ensemble pop like the Apples In Stereo or Neutral Milk Hotel.

Often lyrics separate these small self-created jobs from the big leagues, but Devin Davis is a first-class writer. These are breakup songs and lonely songs, as the title suggests, and they can be crushing or wry: "I'm like a paratrooper with amnesia / Falling like an anchor through the sky / I feel like I should be getting prepared for something / But I could not tell you right now exactly why".

While Tim Sendra is one of the few proper critics to rave about the record, this guy has been mostly promoted by blogs so far. Sixeyes has really pushed him, and I thank (again) Music For Robots for the original tip. You'd be participating in a real grass-roots movement if you took the time to buy this disc.

I promoted several mp3s in a previous post, so only one more here . . . don't want you to be able to collect more than half of the tunes without doing a little work yourself.

Cannons at the Courthouse (mp3)

Posted by borrowed_tunes at March 31, 2005 11:26 PM

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