Yes U, by Devastations (CD on Beggars Banquet)

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Devastations are Tom Carlyon, Hugo Cran & Conrad Standish. Originating from Melbourne, Australia & now based in both London & Berlin, ‘Yes, U’ is their third album, released on Beggars Banquet.Once discovered, Devastations are a band you will want to keep close to your heart… 2003’s self-titled debut won them a following in Europe, and that’s where they created 2005’s ‘Coal’, an album that raised their profile considerably both home and abroad. ‘Coal’ earned the musicians a place at Beggars Banquet. ‘Yes, U’, their first album for the label, marks a striking evolution. Previous records have been praised for their gothic detailing and subtle use of instrumental colouration (harmonium, Optigan, rhythm box, keyboards, strings, et. al). Devastations earned a reputation as well-refined miserablists and classic-minded balladeers, specialists in the sub-genre known as orch-pop. This was a mixed blessing. Unlike the artists to whom they were compared, Devastations’ songs were not intended as weepers, and their arrangements did not fill up every nook and cranny with suffocating detail. Rather, they were particularly notable for their use of space and careful construction. The noir moods did not seem like a plea for sympathy, or an indicator of depression, but a glimmer of how one might find salvation.Recorded in Berlin with Jeremy Glover and mixed in New York City with Chris Coady (Blonde Redhead, TV On The Radio), ‘Yes, U’ still hints at spiritual predecessors like Serge Gainsbourg and The Velvet Underground - urbane artists who revelled in the life of the metropolis, with all its glamorous, grimy, and sensuous details. But it also brings to mind thornier cosmopolitans such as Suicide, Scott Walker and Yoko Ono - deep thinkers all, each noted for creating treacherous sonic environments and tangible, physical sounds.Devastations’ third album also marks the emergence of a counter-sensibility inspired by Grace Jones, Italo-Disco pioneer Giorgio Moroder, and some of his more obscure followers. The songs are muggy with sweat - at heart, ‘Yes, U’ is a fashionable discotheque festooned with enough ideas to kindle the fires of the mind.

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Other items by Devastations:

Coal by Devastations (CD, £10.79)

Take You Home by Devastations (CD single, £1.99)

Take You Home by Devastations (7", £0.99)

Yes U by Devastations (LP, £9.99)