There’s noting like a good road trip to gain some perspective. There’s something about leaving the life you know behind; forgetting your distractions to discover yourself. It can be a make or break the experience. Journeys like this test character, it can set you on a new path and open your eyes to truths about yourself you weren’t aware of. Likewise it can provide the ultimate test for a band. Such was the case for Devotional, whose trip through America provided the best preparation for recording their new albumWild Blue, the first taste of which is The Sun Also Rises.
Inspired by sun soaked days travelling the west coast of America, Sydney trio Devotional on The Sun Also Rises come into their own.
Devotional are a three piece band from Sydney, led by the delicate and alluring vocals of Madelaine Lucas, with guitars from Robert Irish and Ben James on drums. It’s those vocals that first strikes when The Sun Also Rises creeps up on you. It’s sentimental without being too sappy, and delicate whilst maintaining an air of strength. There are a lot of layers to this song, and as a preview of what’s to come from Wild Blue the band have a made a good choice to butter up audiences.
Of course, to arrive at this point was no simple feat with the band crafting the record in their rehearsal room in Marrickville, then hitting the American West Coast to give it a good old fashioned road test. Speaking of the experience, Lucas said “This road trip was the best preparation for making the record, in a way – you become a family on the road, and we spent hours just driving and listening to music, watching the scenery change. The title track, Wild Blue is about stepping out of the shadows of the past and making your own way in the bright, brave new world, so it seemed like the best name for a record that reflects this journey“.
[soundcloud url=”https://api.soundcloud.com/tracks/203672535″ params=”auto_play=false&hide_related=false&show_comments=true&show_user=true&show_reposts=false&visual=true” width=”100%” height=”450″ iframe=”true” /]
Following their trip the trio returned home and holed up in an old manor house in country NSW for 10 days, working with Wade Keighran (who has previously worked with Wolf and Cub and Steve Smyth) to produce Wild Blue. “Working with Wade was a blessing. He’s everything you would want in an engineer or producer— he’s patient, dedicated and has a keen ear” says Lucas. “In the past we’ve recorded our music ourselves, but it’s hard to step back and get perspective when you’re so close to your own songs. We could trust Wade to get the sounds we wanted, which meant we could track the band live and just focus on the performance“.
That feeling of open skies and rolling hills that old manor house occupied can be felt in The Sun Also Rises. There’s an intimacy to the song that feels endearing. It creaks and sways gently, enamoured with a sense of romance. Not that mushy romance the kids are always harping on about, we’re talking about the real idea of romanticism. Coleridge-level romanticism. The very simple lyric of “Into the sun, into the night” carries with it a sense of majesty and wonderment, a true appreciation of what is beautiful in the world and how that can shift one’s perspective of their world. It’s a slow burn of a song, but it works, Lucas’ vocals leading your mind reassuringly into the song’s warm depths. The slide guitars and murmuring harmonica give the song that extra kick, and overall ties it all together quite neatly.
If this is only a taste of what’s to come from Wild Blue then we are very excited what more there is. The Sun Also Rises is the kind of song that will appeal to those who appreciate the slow burn, not the bass drop. So mull this one over in front of the fireplace, and be pleasantly surprised when a new layer is peeled away. Devotional will launch Wild Blue on August 7 at The Vanguard with Melbourne’s Smoke Bellow.
[soundcloud url=”https://api.soundcloud.com/tracks/203672535″ params=”color=ff5500&auto_play=false&hide_related=false&show_comments=true&show_user=true&show_reposts=false” width=”100%” height=”166″ iframe=”true” /]
