DeVotchKa

DeVotchKa is the heart-on-sleeve romantic of the new cabaret movement, mixing lush Eastern European and Latin influences with the operatically swooning, Morrissey-esque croon of singer Nick Urata. Starting out as a burlesque backing band, the Denver quartet toured with Dita Von Teese before breaking into national circles with its superb 2004 album, How It Ends, as well as its 2006 score for the charming Little Miss Sunshine, which garnered the band a Grammy nomination. 2011’s 100 Lovers continues the Westernization of DeVotchKa’s Old World style, assimilating the band further into a more domesticated version of orchestral indie-pop that plays equally well under Urata’s melodramatic quaver. Tracks like “100 Other Lovers” and “The Man From San Sebastian” are restrained but incredibly charming, the musical personification of some loose-walleted, smooth-talking Italian playboy. 

Updated 01/17/2012