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In the UK, Devics are signed to Cocteau Twin Simon Raymonde's label Bella Union, and Devics' dreamy multi-instrumental art-pop would fit in nicely on the Twins' old label 4AD. The band is a duo of Los Angeleans and sometime residents of Italy: Sarah Lov sings most of the songs, and Dustin O'Halloran plays the instruments and sings on a couple of tracks too. The disc opens with "Lie to Me," a waltz with a lovely cascading piano line and spooky theremin. I'm a big fan of triple-meter time signatures, which most of these songs are based in. The lovely and haunting "Secret Message to You" is built on reed organ and a rhythm loop of sampled typewriter tapping, with additional layers of piano and cello toward the end. "Song for a Sleeping Girl" is one of the tracks that O'Halloran sings, and the song itself is more-conventional-sounding midtempo pop, though still quite nice. "Distant Radio" is brisk, strummy pop in the vein of The Sundays; by contrast, "Just One Breath" is minor-key and slightly sinister, with distorted guitar and Lov's most Cocteau-esque vocal of the disc. O'Halloran takes vocals again on "If We Cannot See," a dynamic dream-pop epic that kicks in with echoey guitar. "City Lights" is a sweet countrified lullaby soaked with reverb and tremolo, and "Come Up" closes the album with some woozy keyboard effects. The quality of Lov's vocals is the perfect compliment to O'Halloran's haunting, carefully woven compositions, somehow combining the cool detachment of His Name Is Alive's Karin Oliver, the languor of Mazzy Star's Hope Sandoval, and the bittersweetness of The Sundays' Harriet Wheeler. This is mesmerizing, candle-lit music...a perfect late-night disc. (mike.03.06)
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