reviews / 2011

DEVON WILLIAMS - Euphoria

Name: DEVON WILLIAMS – Euphoria
Item: Euphoria
Rating: 7
Author: Francesco Nunziata

2011 (Slumberland records)

psychedelic-pop

by Francesco Nunziata

“Carefree“, the debut album by Devon Williams, came out in 2008 and remained essentially a niche affair. A shame, given the talent of the Los Angeles-based singer-songwriter. A crystalline talent, just as his psychedelic pop is crystalline, shimmering and romantic.

”Euphoria” is all about a strange balance, a play of weights in which happiness and nostalgia walk hand in hand. So Devon turns the Byrds into a romantic rainbow (“Revelations”), looks to the melodic heroes of the post-punk era (“Favor Tree”, “Tower Of Thought”, “Sufferer”, “La La La La”), and gets a firsthand feel for the immateriality of dreams (“Dreaming”) – but only en passant, without drowning in the annihilating vortex of fantasy – or the plain, pure optimism that has been and always will be found in the hyperspace of melancholy, the absolute substance of flower-power (“Right Direction”).

No revolutions here, just strings sparkling in a vacuum of sugar, a voice tamed by the heart, flutes and strings hissing lullabies to the Moon as if it were still 1967 (“Slight Pain”), fairground sounds that seem to have taken over the speakers (“All My Living Goes To You”), breathless dashes beyond the horizon line, chasing after one more thrill (the splendid “Your Sympathy”), and Paul McCartney telling Brian Wilson a bedtime story (“Tired Of Mulling”).

So, you know those tiny little records that only a handful of people ever notice, the ones that slip by without a single flaw? Well, here we are…

Ride the wave of great music

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24/12/2011

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This article is an English translation of the original Italian text by Francesco Nunziata, published on OndaRock.it. It was translated with the help of artificial intelligence, under the editorial responsibility of OndaRock's editor-in-chief, Claudio Fabretti.

Read the original in Italian · About the English edition