Though they look and sound like a band of European gypsies, Devotchka actually hails from the not so exotic Denver, Colorado. Their origin is quite surprising when you watch lead singer, Nick Urata, swig from a bottle of wine and play his bouzouki (a type of Greek guitar) while swaggering or staggering around the stage, depending on where he is in terms of consumption of the wine. Coming off their recent buzz from scoring the all-too-funny yet dark film, “Little Miss Sunshine,” Devotchka played a soldout show at the Troubadour to a mix of fans as diverse as the genres the band draws its music from.
Devotchka can’t easily be fit into any particular genre, which is possibly the most appealing thing about them. Besides the bouzouki, they incorporate an accordion, piano, violin, an upright bass, sousaphone, and a theremin into their blend of music that might be described as Euro-Mariachi-Folk crossed with Punk Sensibility. Essentially, their sound seems to draw from a majority of the continents, creating a uniquely indescribable brand of music. As if that wasn’t enough, for their most recent release, Curse Your Little Heart, much of which was showcased in the Troubadour show, they covered songs from the likes of Velvet Underground, Frank Sinatra and Siouxsie and the Banshees.
Their cover of the Velvet’s “Venus in Furs” sounded even better live that it does on the record. All members of the band are multi-instrumentalists, but Jeannie Schroder’s playing of the Christmas light adorned sousaphone, when she put down her upright bass, was most entertaining. Throughout the show Devotchka took the audience through the highs and lows of their potent songs, my favorites being “How it Ends” and “We’re Leaving.” All said and done, the only disappointment was the exclusion of “Somethin’ Stupid,” which would have ratcheted a stellar show up to being a PHENOMINAL show.
