Moviegoers who caught the critically acclaimed film “Little Miss Sunshine” might have been captivated by something other than Steve Carell’s manic performance. Besides featuring songs from indie stalwarts like Sufjan Stevens and, uhh, Rick James, the movie featured an original score by the cult indie/folk band DeVotchKa. Blending traditional Eastern European folk with sounds of the American Southwest, DeVotchka brings an esoteric aspect to contemporary alternative music. The band features ample use of non-traditional instruments like violin and tuba, as well as the harrowing, haunting vocals of lead singer/guitarist Nick Urata. They truly are one of the most original acts in today’s musical landscape.
On the heels of 2004’s epic How It Ends, the band returns with an EP of covers and B-sides that showcases its musical diversity. The album opens with some gentle violin on the soft, maraca driven “I Cried Like A Silly Boy.” Urata croons lightly over the simple and subdued music and the formula works to perfection. The title track follows, and fits in with the material from How It Ends. A driving, less morose bass/tuba riff pushes the song along. Urata sings in frantic Spanish before being met by an almost Middle Eastern guitar solo. The DeVotchKa experience adds up to more than its individual parts, and manages to be both catchy and arty at the same time. The three cover songs come across in the best way imaginable. Each track retains the heart of the original while sounding nothing like the source material. Siouxsie And The Banshees’ “The Last Beat Of My Heart” easily could have been a DeVotchKa composition, with its jangley guitar and lyrics-in-mourning. The classic Velvet Underground song “Venus In Furs” stands out as dark and brooding, as Urata howls and drawls almost unintelligibly. When Urata sings, “I am tired…I could sleep for a thousand years” he really sounds like a depleted man. However, there he is, doing his best Frank Sinatra on the song “Somethin’ Stupid.” By the time DeVotchKa replicates the house Cantina band on the traditional “El Zopilote Mojado,” the listener is left feeling that they are capable of playing anything under the sun.
Curse Your Little Heart acts as an excellent DeVotchKa primer, and stands apart from most other EPs. Each track contains surprising bits and pieces, from the clarinet solo on “Mojado” to the orchestral strings of “Somethin’ Stupid.” For listeners intrigued by the notion of the band, it acts as a revealing window into their world. DeVotchKa truly is all over the map and we as listeners are better for it.