“The romance of eastern European ballads and the heart-wrenching moans of Spanish bolero pair nicely with the uplifting mariachi jingles and French country cantors, it is an exalting choir that, at its careful, finer moments, can be brooding and dark.”

~

By Abigail Bruley  |  Send to Friend

Nick Urata was born under the influence. With a flush of Italian immigrant and the bruises of New York City, he took very early to the guitar, piano and trumpet. Early memories include late-night house parties with woeful crooners and accordions; a triumph of different sounds and ethnicities bearing into an odd spice that Urata would later make on his own. He started Devotchka long ago with an ever-changing line up of players until finally meeting the classically trained troubadours that now make up his troupe. The stage show will dazzle and delight the jaded and tired and the music will sear the staunchest of skeptics, provoking a feeling of awe and wonder that most will have not experienced in years.

“We’ve had flame-throwers, fire-swallowers, acrobats, death-defying feats set to our music; we’ve tried it all,” Nick smirks as he recounts the Devotchka live experience. Aside from the jubilation of belly dancers and circus acts, lies the barrage of instruments that grace the stage with the band: trumpets, accordion, upright bass, tuba, violins, theremin, guitars and drums, a veritable Bat Mitzvah of sound.

Devotchka’s music is eclectic, to say the very least. The romance of Eastern European ballads and the heart-wrenching moans of Spanish bolero pair nicely with uplifting mariachi jingles and French country cantors, an exalting choir that, at its careful, finer moments, can also be brooding and dark.

Needless to say, the band has played many a stage in an off-the-radar venue.

“In the early days," Urata says, "we would play whatever gig we could get, whether it meant weddings, Bat Mitzvahs, coffee shops, art galleries or sandwiched between metal acts at a club. We found, playing so many different venues, that our music would resound with people from many different walks of life -- and that was encouraging.”

Their first big break came when they provided the slithery, vaudevillian soundtrack to a burlesque show that included Dita VonTeese. Later, they would be heard over the radio by filmmakers Jonathan Dayton and Valerie Faris and asked to compose the soundtrack to Little Miss Sunshine. It was only a matter of time before Devotchka began to be recognized as a glowing luminary in modern music, even turning down a McDonald’s commercial or two.

Urata, himself, is not much of a music listener.

“I like Hot Chip. Have you heard of them? They’re pretty cool. I also really like film soundtracks by Phillip Glass, other than that, I don’t really keep up on music and I go for long periods of time not listening to anything.”

It’s easy to see how the mad gypsy composer could find little in the way of modern music compelling, writing music better suited for One Hundred Years of Solitude, rather than Juno. Yet he still remains wistful about the upcoming state of music.

“You have to wade through all the bad stuff to get to the good stuff," he says, "it’s usually underneath. I think we’re about to be in a really exciting time in music.”

He has just finished recording Devothka’s latest epic album, A Mad and Faithful Telling, what Urata considers to be their lighter, “more fun” album. Though, their version of light and fun may bring a grown man to his knees, the pop sound is definitely more present than previous releases. Somewhere Gabriel García Márquez is laughing.

 

Writer and Illustrator Abigail Bruley has just perfected her fencing lunge.