Darren McLeod
11/20/05, 06:42 PM
One almost has to feel sorry for Kevin Devine. It seems bands from every genre of our scene get lumped in with those they sound similar to, but the solo-singer-songwriter-with-his-heart-on-his-sleeve seems to be one where the artist is most often compared to another singer, even if the comparisons aren't justified (see: numerous comparisons of The Spill Canvas' first album, Sunsets and Car Crashes to Dashboard Confessional's earlier acoustic work). Everyone is either placed as a Dashboard clone, or a Bright Eyes ripoff, and Devine is very often categorized as the latter. Though an Oberst influence does seem present, it is by no means as overpowering as others, and he takes a lot more criticism for it than he probably deserves - especially if he keeps up above-average releases like this one.
On Split The Country, Split The Streets, Devine brings his excellent songwriting and love for varied instrumentation (hell, he even plays a Glockenspiel on the record) in a great solo effort. The album gets off to a terrific start with "Cotton Crush," a song that features Brand New's Jesse Lacey, and is arguably the album's best track. It starts off with a slow, soft introduction, but the melody builds until it explodes with Devine, Lacey, and other backing vocalists singing lyrics that act as foreshadowing to the theme of the album:
The quiet can scrape
all the calm from your bones,
but maybe it should.
Maybe we need to be hollowed
to get up and grow,
and stop fucking around,
to kick off our braces and start straightening out.
The album is one of growth and maturity - both in the personal sense and in the political one. He struggles with relationships with friends, family, and lovers, and he also battles with the direction he feels his country is headed in. The political message in the album is at its most obvious on "No Time Flat", where Devine states his views on the two parties (Take abortion away, and both sides are just the same, so I'm not sure why I vote, 'cause I just don't know what difference it makes), and the current war ( I curse and I curse at what they fucked up in Iraq. You say support the troops; I do. I want them all brought back, and every building that you bombed raised from the ground. And pull your contractors the fuck out). His straightforward message flows beautifully with the tune of the track, and it makes the song one of the album's standout tracks.
However, as the album continues on its path, it starts to slow down, and the more upbeat songs that are seen earlier in the album seem to disappear. While this doesn't necessarily ruin the album, it does make it an unbalanced offering. The quicker paced ones are the ones that Devine seems to pull off with the greatest ease, so it seems odd that he wouldn't include more of them in the second half of the record. The second half, though quite good, doesn't keep up the same level of energy that is heard on the first half. The end result, then, is an album with many standout tracks, but also a few that don't work quite as well.
With that aside, Devine still finds himself heads and shoulders above most of the other artists within his genre, and at his young age, I'm sure we can expect many more great releases from him in the years to come. There is a reason he got signed to Capitol, and it's because he is bound to have a bright future.
On Split The Country, Split The Streets, Devine brings his excellent songwriting and love for varied instrumentation (hell, he even plays a Glockenspiel on the record) in a great solo effort. The album gets off to a terrific start with "Cotton Crush," a song that features Brand New's Jesse Lacey, and is arguably the album's best track. It starts off with a slow, soft introduction, but the melody builds until it explodes with Devine, Lacey, and other backing vocalists singing lyrics that act as foreshadowing to the theme of the album:
The quiet can scrape
all the calm from your bones,
but maybe it should.
Maybe we need to be hollowed
to get up and grow,
and stop fucking around,
to kick off our braces and start straightening out.
The album is one of growth and maturity - both in the personal sense and in the political one. He struggles with relationships with friends, family, and lovers, and he also battles with the direction he feels his country is headed in. The political message in the album is at its most obvious on "No Time Flat", where Devine states his views on the two parties (Take abortion away, and both sides are just the same, so I'm not sure why I vote, 'cause I just don't know what difference it makes), and the current war ( I curse and I curse at what they fucked up in Iraq. You say support the troops; I do. I want them all brought back, and every building that you bombed raised from the ground. And pull your contractors the fuck out). His straightforward message flows beautifully with the tune of the track, and it makes the song one of the album's standout tracks.
However, as the album continues on its path, it starts to slow down, and the more upbeat songs that are seen earlier in the album seem to disappear. While this doesn't necessarily ruin the album, it does make it an unbalanced offering. The quicker paced ones are the ones that Devine seems to pull off with the greatest ease, so it seems odd that he wouldn't include more of them in the second half of the record. The second half, though quite good, doesn't keep up the same level of energy that is heard on the first half. The end result, then, is an album with many standout tracks, but also a few that don't work quite as well.
With that aside, Devine still finds himself heads and shoulders above most of the other artists within his genre, and at his young age, I'm sure we can expect many more great releases from him in the years to come. There is a reason he got signed to Capitol, and it's because he is bound to have a bright future.