Kevin Devine - Between The Concrete & The Clouds

I feel like I've been searching for Kevin Devine since October 21st, 2003. From early on in my exploration of music, I've been a huge admirer of the work of Elliott Smith. In my naivety I probably discovered the news of Smith's untimely death many months after his October 2003 passing, but I distinctly remember the crushing realisation that this guy wouldn't be making any new music any time soon. The same sensation hit me when I heard that Mark Linkous had taken his own life. Whilst I like to think that my musical spectrum is fairly broad, I've always had a special place for the breed of contemporary American singer-songwriter as epitomised by Linkous, and especially Smith. This has meant I've been on a hunt for someone fresh to carry the mantel of these late heroes, and I think I may have found it in the shape of Kevin Devine.

Kevin Devine has only recently come in to my radar with his latest effort Between The Concrete & The Clouds, which is due for release on September 13th. In actual fact, this is his sixth album. After playing Between The Concrete pretty much on repeat over the past week, I decided to check out his back-catalogue. It's possibly with tainted goggles when I say that nothing comes close to the calibre of this latest record. But then I guess that's the right way round, right? Artists develop, improve and learn during their careers. And by the sounds of things that's exactly what Kevin has been doing; on a Fibonacci-like trajectory.

This one comes with a five star recommendation folks. Especially for those Elliott Smith fans amongst you - at times the likeness can be uncanny. That's not of course to say that I don't appreciate Kevin Devine in his own right, but he's certainly filled a Figure 8 shaped hole in my life.

You can listen to Between The Concrete & The Clouds for free on Spotify now.