++GIG REVIEW++
Taking their name from A Clockwork Orange, DeVotchKa literally translates as 'Young Girl' in the Anthony Burgess novel. Clearly not put off by the thought of droogs, Gareth Mytton headed down to London's ICA to review their mariachi-punk...
Devotchka frontman Nick Urata isn’t big on small talk. At tonight’s ICA show, it takes him a whole forty minutes before he manages to beat the word count of Arnold Schwarzenegger in The Terminator.
By that point, however, all eyes are on the band. The immaculately dressed Devotchka are one of those groups who make a mockery of categories. Calling them “world music” (which might apply if they were based in, say, Romania, rather than the US and didn’t sing in English) doesn’t even begin to summarise what they play, let alone how much fun they are.
"Urata salutes the crowd with the bottle that he was bashing against a tambourine..."
The band switch styles with the same ease as they switch instruments around Urata’s warm voice. They’re mariachi (on ‘We’re Leaving’), then they’re a brass-fuelled east European group (‘Basso Profundo’). Later on, they wonder what it would be like to die over a hymnal organ, on the wonderful ‘How It Ends’.
The closing quartet kicks off with the guitar-driven rockout of ‘Enemy Guns’ – which starts with Urata performing most tuneful bit of whistling since ‘Young Folks’, and he pulls it off live. They close with another riotous cover, of ‘Last Beat of My Heart’, based on the tight rhythm section of Shawn King (drums and trumpet) and Jeanie Schroder (tuba and double bass).
Naturally, there’s an encore – ‘Ranchero’ and ‘ULove Me’ – before the audience head home as happy as the band. Urata thanks them for coming, salutes them with the bottle that he was bashing against a tambourine, and departs. If Thursday were to become the new Friday, Devotchka would make a great house band.
++ Gareth Mytton ++
Artrocker rating: 4
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