Kevin Devine

Brother's Blood

(Favorite Gentlemen)

Record Review by Amber Henson

I have to say, I’m pretty impressed by Kevin Devine’s ability to combine a lot of my favorite musical concepts that were prevalent in the nineties into one album.  ALL YOUR FAVORITE HITS ON ONE, COUNT ‘EM ONE, COMPACT DISC!  Devine’s influences include Elliott Smith and Nirvana, and with his fifth album, I can hear both of those artists along with others.

I can’t say much about Devine’s voice.  It’s nice, but he kind of talk-sings his way through many of his songs, which is fine.  If he weren’t writing his own lyrics, I might be a harsher critic, but I’ll let him off the hook for having a smart, dark brain.  And anyone who sings about disaster is cool with me; the third track on the album, titled “Another Bag of Bones,” contains lyrics of terrible things, like “It’s an Argentine school girl gagged and bound” and “It’s a conflict diamond on your bride to be.”  I like songs about the darkness of the world we live in.

But what really caught me was the second track, “Carnival.”  There’s something about that song that gives me that nervousness I would sometimes get in the pit of my stomach listening to '90s songs, where the crescendo seems to speak directly part of me that got anxious around boys.  There’s a desperately familiar rhythm to that song.

I can’t categorize Devine, though.  I wasn’t aware of him before reviewing this album (I seem to be fond of that, lately - reviewing albums of established artists with innocent ears).  Brother’s Blood is a complete album, full of ballads and rock songs, sweet songs and sad songs.  He sings alone, with his voice echoed, or with a small variety of fellow vocalists.  The album is fresh, an impressive feat for record number five.  Here’s hoping number six is not far behind.