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DeVotchKa: 100 Lovers

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When reviewing a DeVotchKa album, it’s customary to make use of the word “romantic.” That’s largely because the Nick Urata -led quartet specializes in music that heightens the senses and stirs sentiments—a sort of new school-Old World drama of indie rock and pop songcraft dressed up in exotic-sounding Eastern European and Latin flourishes. On DeVotchKa’s fifth and most romantically titled album, the band does even more than that. Following the success of the band’s work on the Little Miss Sunshine soundtrack, the group’s musical ambitions seem to have risen right along with its profile. Here, we find the band reaching for an arena-sized sound, a la Muse. With a little outside percussive help, the rhythm section summons great power and precision, and Urata’s vibrato sweeps in Orbison-esque arcs. When it all comes together during “The Man From San Sebastian” and “Contrabanda,” the effect is exhilarating.