This Denver band has achieved something unique in the saturated field of pop music. They've defined a style all their own. It's called "Eastern bloc indie rock," a swooning mix of American folk-rock and world influences that include Romani, Greek, Slavic and mariachi.
Add in the romantic voice of frontman Nick Urata and you've got the essential DeVotchka - songs made for serenades and poetic indie-rock dreams.
A Mad and Faithful Telling is almost too consistent with previous DeVotchka outings. All the accordion and horn punctuations are still there. No single track outdoes their best-known song, "How It Ends."
It's almost as if DeVotchka's original compositions have boxed them in. Can they ever really make tracks that would sound different from the musical ground they've already broken?
Then, after spending an hour with the lush and elegant songs on this latest release, I realized something. The real question isn't if DeVotchka can sound different, but: Why would they ever want to?
