Description:	CD on Anti
	Format:	CD
	Genre(s):	Folk/Folk Rock
	Label:	Anti
	Price:	£11.09
	Availability:	Dispatched within 2-5 days (on average).

4
...according to our Brian on 14 March 2008.

Devotchka are the latest bunch of Balkan folk troubadors to arrive in my sweaty lugs. Straddling the thin patch of fertile ground between Beirut & Arcade Fire, this is classical gear, Nick Urata's vocals a yearning, tortured wail that really does the job. There's hints of early Leonard Cohen in some of the arrangements. Very authentic sounding, sumptiously produced, imbued with tragedy....Anyone feeling all the current pan european travellers folk revival will dig 'A Mad & Faithful Telling' All weeping perky accordian & lilting strings. Not all the same throughout though. Closer 'New World' is a wistful and melancholy acoustic strum with some stirring strings & breathy backing vocals before that heartbroken, impassioned voice cuts right through you, like a knife through butter. This is a very lovingly assembled album, very serious & grand. If you like this style of music then this is the first essential one for your collection this year! Lovely!

Love this record? Hate it? Tell us.

What their label says...

TRACKLISTING

1.    Basso Profundo
2.    Along the Way
3.    The Clockwise Witness
4.    Head Honcho
5.    Comrade Z
6.    Transliterator
7.    Blessing in Disguise
8.    Undone
9.    Strizzalo
10. New World


2006 was the year of DeVotchKa.  Directors Jonathan Dayton and Valerie Faris chose DeVotchKa to score Little Miss Sunshine, the breakout indie film of the year, garnering four Academy Award nominations, and earning DeVotchKa a Grammy nod for Best Soundtrack.
With a stage set-up fortified by sousaphone, accordion, piano, violin, a bouzouki, an upright bass, percussion, trumpet, drums and a Theremin, DeVotchKa have won a fanatical live following, touring alongside similar maverick acts such as Calexico and Arcade Fire. Word of mouth spread about the DeVotchKa live experience—tales of trumpeters appearing out of the crowd; of the band climbing offstage and playing in the center of the audience; of trapeze aerialists suspended from theatre ceilings; of audiences driven to tears and then dancing in the space of a song.
Now with their second ANTI release- , A Mad and Faithful Telling, 2008, too, will be the year of Devotchka.

·    For fans of Arcade Fire, Calexico, Neko Case, David Byrne and Gogol Bordello.
·    DeVotchKa, along with composer Mychael Danna, composed and performed the music for the film Little Miss Sunshine soundtrack and were nominated for a 2006 Grammy Award for Best Compilation Soundtrack.
·    DeVotchKa have built a devoted following from full tours with Belle & Sebastian, M.Ward, Calexico, 16 Horsepower, Los Lobos, Gogol Bordello, and the Dresden Dolls.  
·    Produced by Craig Schumacher (Calexico, M. Ward, Neko Case).

“Beautiful freak folk, which takes in the sounds of Eastern Europe, but explores French and South American jams to good effect”
NME
“(Devotchka) are one of the more interesting players in the current gypsy-punk mini-scene”
INDEPENDENT