A few years back, I stumbled upon pop-minded singer-songwriter Alyssa Gengos. Her album Mechanical Sweetness was—to borrow a phrase from the 1990s—“all that and a bag of chips.” She wrote the songs, played all instruments but drums, sang lead and backup, and created a cacophony of symphonic consonance along the way. It was an oft-bittersweet concoction, to be sure, yet intoxicating.
Her first single as Devon Earth, “Smile,” maintains the wistful whimsy of that album. Instead of going it mostly alone, however, she’s backed by a full band that includes Samuel Acchione on guitars, Ellington Peet on drums and percussion, Desiree Sabri on bass/vocals, Goose Earth on flute/vocals, Max Woobs on organ, and Claire Butwinick on vocals. Together, they create a sonic tonic that’s balm for the post-relationship blues.
As with Mechanical Sweetness, the song conjures an array of artists and bands of both the past and present. Fans of the Welsh band Gorky’s Zygotic Mynci, for example, will hear some similarities between them and Devon Earth, as will folks who enjoy Cassandra Jenkins or The Yearning. The groovy, laidback vibe also echoes the Day-Glo scene of the mid-1960s, when the era’s nascent flower children first heard the word was love.
The Old Grey Cat 