We caught up with Kevin Devine for a phone interview the day after he began his three-week residency at Hotel Café in LA, where he shared the stage with Morgan Kibby (White Sea, M83) who premiered songs from Devine’s forthcoming record for fortunate audiences members. “She really added something special to the songs. Added to harmonies- really just so much more than a cover, she makes them her own. I think she’s going to be enormously famous. She is one of the most talented people I’ve ever played music with and is just so wonderful and humble.” (Kevin Devine).
Singles from the upcoming release have made their debuts already on Academy Fight Song Records. Both are available for dirt-cheap either as a digital download or clear vinyl in the label’s online store. Though Between the Concrete and the Clouds won’t fully emerge until the fall, “Luxembourg” and “Part of the Whole” give a little taste of what Devine’s new direction will be. Moving away from the one man show acoustics many know him for, Devine will continue to walk the path he began to pave with this previous two records, incorporating a wider variety of instrumentation and most importantly, bringing in a consistent band to do so. “At the beginning it was almost exclusively me playing acoustic but I knew that I didn’t want to do that forever. I used to gather friends to come out to shows with me and loosely called it the goddamned band. Those same people joined me for parts of the last two records- like Split the Country, Split the Streets- that was pretty much a band. Some of those musicians have been and gone while others have stuck around, but it has never been something that is totally consistent. Nothing on this new record is just my guitar and I. Sure, there has technically been a band on every record I’ve made but this time around its much more literal.”
When asked about the experience of making Between the Concrete and the Clouds with a full band mindset, Devine said, “Other musicians have definitely had a larger role contributing to the songs this time around. At the beginning I was very much a soloist, mainly because I was pulling away from Miracle of ’86 to do the songs I wrote that the band hadn’t been interested in. But overtime the input of people I respected mattered more and I think that’s what has made these last two records my biggest- the collaboration. In some respects I’m still very much a solo musician but in others I’m more collaborative that I have ever been. Now, why the change? Because I realized that Bob Dylan, Leonard Cohen hardly played anything on their own records haha. We can’t all play every instrument perfectly. If I could I wouldn’t call someone. But since I can’t play it any better than people I know, I call them and they make it great.
Though he hates to put a specific release date on unfinished work, Devine says listeners can look for the new record sometime in September. Until then a few lucky people will get to catch Kevin at various residencies, festivals and tours he’ll be opening in the coming months.

The charming Kevin Devine also answered a few questions we had about his favorite places to play, the music he’s been spinning lately and the best/worst moments so far in his career.

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