In recent months we’ve shared a number of singles from Pennsylvania-born multi-instrumentalist Quinn Devlin in the lead up to the release of new album, Pair of Threes. First with ‘Lillian‘, which saw an easy indie folk style develop into a larger sound. “Solo intimacy blown up into something communal,” as we put it, “the sound’s careful richness developing into an affirming final chorus.” Then there was ‘Movie Scene‘, with a “winding folk style [which] paints a summer afternoon in all of its ideal fondness,” as we wrote, “channelling the country classics to invoke a nostalgically golden hue.”
This lush sound can in good part be explained by the team of friends and collaborators which helped Quinn Devlin bring it to life. Jordan Wolff (drums), Andy Shimm (bass, vocals), Jack Broza (guitar), James Wyatt Woodall (pedal steel, lap steel), Dylan DeFeo (piano), Annie Nikunen (flute), Eli Aleinikoff (soprano saxophone), Sarah Cicero (vocals), Jack Jobst (vocals) and Sahil Ansari (shaker, tambo) all lend their talents, with Ansari also taking care of mixing, engineering and production and Phillip Shaw Bova the mastering.
Latest single ‘PBR Song’ serves as another example of how these various parts cohere into a compelling whole. A slow-burning folk song which might sit on the shelf alongside the likes of Adeline Hotel, the track again leads the listener from intimate quiet to affirming peaks, the harmonious vocals building a sense of communal compassion. “She taught me how to show affection, tell me friends I love them,” Devlin sings in the opening lines, “with a warm embrace,” and the song plays as a realisation of this advice. Arms extended to envelop the listener, no matter how far away they might be.