Kevin Devine
Put Your Ghost To Rest
Capitol
By Greg Grits
Kevin Devine got his start as the vocalist/guitarist for Miracle Of ‘86, a band that had a ton of potential in the indie/emo world but fizzled before writing the album that everyone knew they had in them. Devine released his first solo album, Circle Takes the Square, while Miracle of ‘86 was still active, and when the band dissolved Devine continued to release work under his own name. Each album has one or two stand out tracks and a lot of songs that felt like good ideas, but just weren’t quite there. Kevin Devine’s fourth album finds the Brooklyn native producing some of his strongest material to date.
Put Your Ghost To Rest begins with “Brooklyn Boy,” which is a great opening song. The track is reminiscent of Elliott Smith’s early work, especially the piano line during the chorus, but where Smith came off as melancholy, Devine voice has a somber tone and sounds almost hopeful. The rest of the record is mostly a full band approach with the exception of “A Billion Bees” which a quiet voice and guitar song.
After a couple slow tracks in a row comes “Like Cursing Kids,” one of the most upbeat songs on the album, as the song is in a great spot and speaks well of the sequencing of the album. It’s reminiscent of Ben Kweller’s style of power pop and does a great job of changing the mood just enough to keep things interesting and moving along, but not so much that it’s awkward. There is another rocker called “Trouble” that is buried at the end of the album.
Put Your Ghost To Rest is the most mature and fleshed out album that Kevin Devine has released. It’s a cohesive effort, even when switching between slow acoustic tracks, alt country songs and power pop tracks. In fact it keeps the album moving along and interesting, avoiding the problems that plague many solo artists. This time around, Kevin Devine establishes himself as an important talent – his next release can’t come soon enough!
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