Devin Greenwood

"This Over Here"

by John Vettese

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Published: Feb 6, 2007

I'll admit it, I was flummoxed. A year or so ago, Devin Greenwood told me he was cooking up material that included "darker new wave moments." It didn't sit right. I knew him to be a formidably eclectic musician and producer, a seriously talented guy for sure, but c'mon. Dark? New wave? That's not very Tin Angel. Leave it to an unassuming show there last month for Greenwood to gallantly dispel my assumptions. His set had already run a stylistic triathlon when the ensemble smoothly slid into "This Over Here." A pulsing bass locked into a groove and let it ride. In came that vexed, minor-key voice: "Some people found it too hard to be alone/ So they dug in with their thin skin, clothespinned ..." Marching floor toms and a piano later, and I was captivated. Detail amplified as Greenwood taxonomically depicted scenarios of those who "found it too hard," faced difficulty in their lives and fled: the reluctantly agnostic, the gender dysphoric, on and on as the refrain-free song progressed to a tremendous peak. The whole thing gave off an Orwellian vibe with its metallic monotone and dreary perspective. It seemed Greenwood was chastising his cast of misfits for taking the coward's way out, and he, for one, was going to defiantly stand onstage and challenge the notions of those — like myself — still stuck on "you can't." You can't play ominous music at the Tin Angel. You can't do new wave songs with acoustic guitars. Wrong, wrong.

First, stream the song from www.myspace.com/devingreenwood. Then, when you realize that owning it is essential, head to the iTunes store for Greenwood's self-titled EP.

 

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