Upstate Songs by Devon Sproule

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Folky Pop | Folk Pop

10 tracks | 39 minutes

Released Jun 2003
on City Salvage Records

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sample lyrics "DOWNLOAD" 03:58 Plea for a Good Night's Rest lyrics FREE 03:58 Plea for a Good Night's Rest lyrics "GIFT MP3" 03:58 Plea for a Good Night's Rest

sample lyrics "DOWNLOAD" 02:59 Come Comet or Dove lyrics BUY MP3 02:59 Come Comet or Dove lyrics "GIFT MP3" 02:59 Come Comet or Dove

sample lyrics "DOWNLOAD" 04:30 Farewell, Seasick Suffering! lyrics BUY MP3 04:30 Farewell, Seasick Suffering! lyrics "GIFT MP3" 04:30 Farewell, Seasick Suffering!

sample lyrics "DOWNLOAD" 04:13 Tristan and Isolde lyrics BUY MP3 04:13 Tristan and Isolde lyrics "GIFT MP3" 04:13 Tristan and Isolde

sample lyrics "DOWNLOAD" 05:47 Should Have Been Snow lyrics BUY MP3 05:47 Should Have Been Snow lyrics "GIFT MP3" 05:47 Should Have Been Snow

sample lyrics "DOWNLOAD" 04:33 You Aren't Really Here, It Isn't Really Light Out lyrics BUY MP3 04:33 You Aren't Really Here, It Isn't Really Light Out lyrics "GIFT MP3" 04:33 You Aren't Really Here, It Isn't Really Light Out

sample lyrics "DOWNLOAD" 04:19 White Kite at Georgetown Green lyrics BUY MP3 04:19 White Kite at Georgetown Green lyrics "GIFT MP3" 04:19 White Kite at Georgetown Green

sample lyrics "DOWNLOAD" 02:40 My Baby Just Cares for Me lyrics BUY MP3 02:40 My Baby Just Cares for Me lyrics "GIFT MP3" 02:40 My Baby Just Cares for Me

sample lyrics "DOWNLOAD" 03:15 Last Summer's Lifeguard lyrics BUY MP3 03:15 Last Summer's Lifeguard lyrics "GIFT MP3" 03:15 Last Summer's Lifeguard

sample lyrics "DOWNLOAD" 03:21 Country Sun lyrics BUY MP3 03:21 Country Sun lyrics "GIFT MP3" 03:21 Country Sun

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Think clean kitchen with a plant in the window, the creak of a chair and tap of a toe: Sproule offers a bit of a turning in, a clever collection of stories and observations, and an earful of the most graceful melodies.

Editorial review

It should be said right off the bat: Upstate Songs is the album the world has been waiting to hear from Devon Sproule. It is the dramatic leap into truly memorable, engaging, and quality songwriting few artists ever achieve -- and of those few, fewer still achieve when their careers are just at their beginnings. On her first two long-players, Devon (2000) and Long Sleeve Story (2001), Sproule hinted that she was on her way to the absolutely excellent songcraft presented here, showing fistfuls of creativity and the initiative to pull off ambitious melodies, but up until Upstate Songs she had yet to write the set of songs that fulfilled her significant potential. Long Sleeve Story, produced by Dave Matthews Band bassist Stefan Lessard, came close with a few phenomenal tracks like "Fast Statue" but, for the most part, the album tended to wander into territory Sproule seemed to just settle for instead of taking the time to really develop -- however, it was easy to let it slide due to the fact that she was only 19 when Long Sleeve Story came out. With Upstate Songs, her musical vision is no longer aimless nor is her image, which on her previous releases clashed with the music it represented. Where previously she had truncated her name to just Devon, she has released this album under her full name with artwork that much more accurately augments its contents: a direct, sincere and elegant no-frills recording that fully showcases the remarkable guitarist, songwriter, and vocalist Sproule is. Gentle, poetic, classy, and achingly gorgeous, Upstate Songs is the chronicle of Sproule's pilgrimage to upstate New York from her home in Virginia to find the proper place to accentuate in spirit the delicate intricacies of the songs written for this record. From the opening track, the stark and cozy "Plea for a Good Night's Rest," Upstate Songs links arms with the floating atmosphere of a summer evening and cycles through the subtle dynamics of two acoustic guitars, played skillfully by Sproule and co-producer Paul Curreri -- the only break from this instrumentation being the viola ribbon weaving through "Tristan and Isolde" and the band accompaniment on "Should Have Been Snow." It speaks volumes that these songs can stand so strongly without the need for elaborate arrangements to retain the listener's attention, deftly proving that Sproule needs nothing to hide behind. She must be proud of this effort; one gets the impression that she may have even surprised herself with the quality of songs represented here, because the truth is that many artists never reach a point in their careers that is this solid -- and keeping in mind she was only 21 at the time of this release makes the album even more exciting knowing that plenty more should come. But regardless of what comes next, Upstate Songs is so honest, so well-crafted, and so effortlessly played that the album exudes timelessness, so the question is not if, but when will the world find ears to hear it. ~ Gregory McIntosh, All Music Guide

Bio / Background

“Perhaps the sweetest and most honest folk-pop album recorded this year.” -- ROLLING STONE

With the release of her third CD, Upstate Songs, rising-star Devon Sproule joins the growing roster of artists on City Salvage Records, the independent multi-media label out of Brooklyn, New York. Released on June 3rd, 2003, Upstate Songs features a collection of bright, sparsely arranged compositions and represents a new direction from the grittier, electric sounds that gained Sproule national recognition with the release of her previous two albums.

Raised on Canadian folk music, dead teenager ballads from the 50's and the Beatles on a 465-acre commune in rural Virginia, the twenty-one-year-old Sproule began touring nationally at the age of sixteen, sometimes performing with the accompaniment of a rock band.