deVries

This is a simple recipe. Take a healthy dollop of the Stone Roses debut album and strip off the danciest elements of it. Replace the skeleton with a small handful of Doves drum patterns and fold it all together with a love for Echo and the Bunnymen and Spiritualized. Throw it all into a bowl, fold the mixture together gently and cook in a low oven for 45 minutes. Leave it to cool down under an Oldham raincloud for a week and a half and then garnish with some affection for the Jesus and the Mary Chain before serving.

In other words, Death to God is possibly the greatest Manchester album never to have been made in Manchester. In fact, it was made in New York, by an American. The good thing is, you can take all of those references at face value, because Death To God is a beautiful piece of work. Yes it sounds like it was recorded under a rain cloud but it’ll entertain you from start to finish.

Simple. Precise. Haunting. Special. Death to God is a must have for all of those who spend more time looking at their shoes than should be considered healthy.

Don’t miss it. - Incendiary Magazine

Guitarist and singer Travis DeVries' name might ring a bell among those of you who obsess about cult shoegaze bands (for some reason shoegaze is the inde cult genre par excellence): he was the main force behind the band The Turn-ons, also nicknamed "the godfathers of the shoegaze Seattle scene". Now based in NYC, Travis has formed a new project and conveniently called it "deVries". The man has worked almost two years to deliver "Death to God" (released last week with a show at Cameo), a fine shoegaze-pop record that kept us involved from the first to the last fuzzy guitar chord. The songs on the album share an atmospheric and contemplative weft, given by the textured and hypnotic guitar sound and by Travis' droney, reverbery melodies. DeVries’s songs create an original musical universe while giving a lingering impression that they have always existed. The ethereal "Girl in the fur skin" and the captivating "Slowing Down" could have been classic shoegaze gems from the early '90 next to Kevin Shields' unforgettable "Girl in the City" or The Jesus and Mary Chain's "Just like Honey". "Darkest Summer" is a beguiling melody that flooats on a saturated orchestration and definitely has the power to linger in your mind for awhile. Don’t miss deVries’s show at Union Hall on December 10. - by Claire-Marie Le Bihan - Deli Magazine

Travis DeVries of Seattle's late, great Turn-Ons is back with a new band whose sonic agenda should come as no surprise to any Turn-Ons devotee. He's still into the dreamier side of the spectrum, whispering a musical language best enjoyed by fans of the Church, Yo La Tengo, any shoe-gaze band you'd care to adore and the Jesus & Mary Chain, who happened to headline DeVries' final show with the Turn-Ons (several of whom appear here as his backing band).



The songs do have a tendency to blend together, but that also makes for an engagingly cohesive sleepwalk through his atmospheric melodies on such hummable highlights as "Boys are Bores" (about trans-gendered children) and the drone-along hooks of the Spector-on-codeine gem, "Girl in the Fur-Skin Rug." A few songs rock a little harder than the others - the practically mod-ish "Black Thursday Repeat" in particular - but not enough to wake the baby. - Blurt Magazine

Seattle's deVries is the brainchild of Travis deVries, also a member of the Turn-Ons. Their record Death To God is a good one. It's a weird, unpredictable mix of your favorite bands, but it's still strikingly original. The songs are similarly arranged and produced - think T. Rex in a subway tunnel - but they're also very distinct, including the beguiling "The Darkest Summer". They're also Peter Buck's favorite Seattle band. If you're not convinced yet, I'm not sure what else to tell you. Uh, the CD comes with a $20 bill inside ... ?*

In any case, pick up the record when it's released on Nov. 10. You won't be sorry.

* This may not be true. - Music for Robots

album review
deVries
Death To God
Noise On Noise
DeVries' Death To God might be titled like a metalhead's dream, but nothing can be further from its reality. Beginning with a thirty second ambient intro track, Death To God then explodes into the immediately engaging "Boys Are Bores," in which deVries, consisting of former member of The Turn-Ons, Travis DeVries, easily prove that even tracks about hermaphrodites can be taken seriously if you have the right musical chops to create them with. A catchy guitar introduction and low-key vocals easily render "Boys Are Bores" one of the best tracks on the album -- an early highlight that is not the only highlight, but certainly one of the most notable.

DeVries draws comparisons to Brit-pop bands such as The Stone Roses, and they're not far-fetched comparisons. '60s-style guitarwork is present on this album, along with fabulously airy vocals. However, unlike the aforementioned bands, deVries have an updated indie rock sound, featuring more crisp production and mastering, courtesy of Erik Blood (The Moondoggies, Tea Cozies) and Kramer (Low, Sufjan Stevens).

But enough name-dropping, because the simple fact is that that Death To God is an album that's simply, well, pleasant. Light, airy shoegaze textures are commonplace, and ethereal vocals bridge the gaps in-between. Death To God exemplifies its subgenre well, adding in lyrical twists as highlights, but ultimately, it's a subgenre without much room for breaking new ground. So, despite a solid album, exposure is the key. - Redefine Magazine

Death To God, the new album from deVries, is an impressive mix of songs. Travis deVries, former front man for Seattle band The Turn-Ons, delivers with solid lyrical content backed by just the right musical atmosphere and depth created on every track. Sometimes airy, sometimes pumped out with rock bravado, the melancholy feel of the album is balanced perfectly by well-placed orchestration and catchy guitar riffs, giving the album real depth and diversity.

�Boys and Girls,� an upbeat song about transgender children, pumps out a danceable beat with nice guitar riffs and bouncy lyrics. In fact, every track on the album has music that, on paper, would seem to not fit with the serious and mature issues deVries tackles. But he pulls it off brilliantly! It makes for a very beautiful album.

Death To God is out now on iTunes and Amazon via Noise on Noise.

www.myspace.com/devriesmusic

Alex Aaron, Indie Contributor - The Silver Tounge

Turn-Ons frontman Travis DeVries has relocated from Seattle to New York since The Turn-Ons previous album, 2008's 'Curse'. A change of band later and under the monicker "deVries", 'Death to God' sounds like a fifth Turn-Ons album.

There is little to distinguish it from earlier efforts, both 'Death to God' and 2006's 'Parallels' even feature the peculiar image of boys in underpants on their front covers. Lyrically and musically, DeVries continues to mine a distinct strata of late eighties and early nineties shoegaze and Brit-pop, with The Cure, My Bloody Valentine, The Smiths, Suede, James and The La's clear and persistent influences.

The term "shoegaze" continues to fall out of fashion as more bands capitalise on its tricks and textures. In recent years it has become a byword for experimentation, with some such as The Twilight Sad mixing guitars and electronics to great effect or like Seattle based The Sight Below, others are producing vast soundscapes of electronic interference. After experimenting with different instruments and ideas on 'Curse', DeVries has returned to a sound and formula that was perfected in 1988 on My Bloody Valentine's 'Isn't Anything': ethereal vocals dealing with personal demons over a haze of crunching guitars and keyboards. DeVries does it so well though, and while the influences are obvious on 'Death to God', the album is more consistent and better for it.

'Death to God' is haunting and moving music, far more sophisticated and beautiful than the angsty title suggests. That there is little new here is both the album's greatest appeal and its biggest weakness.


- Americana UK