DeVotchKa

Born out of Denver’s (Colorado) independent scene, DeVotchKa coalesced in the late 1990s around singer‑songwriter Nick Urata, with Tom Hagerman, Jeanie Schroder and Shawn King forming a core quartet that is often expanded on stage. From their early recordings, including the album SuperMelodrama (2000) and Una Volta (2003), DeVotchKa blended indie rock with Eastern European folk, mariachi inflections, Balkan influences and cabaret hues, showing a marked taste for orchestral arrangements and shifts in tempo. The 2004 album How It Ends gradually established the band beyond the U.S. alternative network, helped by the use of several tracks in film and television; their score for the film Little Miss Sunshine in 2006 further raised their international profile. A Mad & Faithful Telling (2008) and 100 Lovers (2011) continued this songwriting approach—strings, brass and lilting rhythms—while the live release Live with the Colorado Symphony (2012) underscored the orchestral bent of their repertoire. With This Night Falls Forever (2018), DeVotchKa returned to a tighter form of indie pop, still driven by Nick Urata’s vibrant voice and the blend of melancholy and energy that remains the band’s signature on record and on stage.