Devine returns to Bloomington for a show at 8 p.m. Sunday at the Bishop Bar. This stop is the final night of a tour Devin co-headlined with Chicago musician Evan Weiss’s solo project “Into It. Over It.” Laura Stevenson, a singer-songwriter from Long Island, N.Y., has opened for both musicians throughout the tour.
Aside from a canceled show in Nashville, Tenn., Devine said the current tour is a model of what he wishes every tour could be like.
“The shows have gone great, the travel’s been easy, everyone is pretty easy to be around and the music is great,” he said.
Devine also called Bloomington a good place to close out their tour because the people he’s seen come to shows here are surrounded by a good music culture and the show will be a lot calmer than ones played in cities like Chicago, where they play the night before.
“Those big city shows can be kind of sensory overwhelming with a lot of people, a lot of friends, a lot of family, a lot of energy flying around,” he said, “It’s kind of nice to have a quiet place at the end to go and hang out and say ?goodbye.”
It won’t be a permanent goodbye from touring for Devine, though. While this tour has featured him with a solo, acoustic set, two days after the Bloomington show marks the start of a tour with two of his friends as Kevin Devine & the Goddamn Band playing what he called more of a rock show. He said there are pros and cons to either way of performing, but the main difference comes down to volume.
“The songs are the same, it’s just different ways of communicating them,” Devine said. “When I play solo it’s a bit more direct, in a way, and when I play with the band it’s maybe less direct in how it’s communicated but it’s a bit more, like, abrasive, powerful, a rock show.”
It’s not unusual for Devine to divide himself between working as a solo musician and working with a band. His last release was a double album in 2013 where one album, “Bulldozer,” was attributed solely to Devine and the other album, “Bubblegum,” was attributed to Kevin Devine & the Goddamn Band.
Devine has yet to release new music since these two albums, but the first installment of his new project Devinyl Splits is set to be released Feb. 24.
Devinyl Splits is a yearlong series of 7-inch records, 45s, featuring a recording by Devine on one side and a recording by a guest musician on the other.
The first record will feature Devine covering New York band Nada Surf’s “Inside of Love.” The other side of the record will feature Matthew Caws of Nada Surf covering Devine’s “Fiscal Cliff.”
Five more guest musicians are scheduled to perform in Devine’s series. Meredith Graves of New York band ?Perfect Pussy will perform on the second record, set for release in April. Pennsylvania band Tiger Jaw will perform on the third record, set for release in June. Devine’s website will announce the final three guest musicians later this year.
Devine said several reasons inspired him to start this series. First, he said he wanted to legitimize his record label Devinyl Records as something more than just a place where he releases his own music. He said releasing music in a series format is a new, interesting route he wanted to try instead of doing a full album.
Devine also said his music often fits in between diverse genres such as emo, indie rock and folk, and while working between various genres he has met a wide range of ?musicians.
“I thought it would be cool to curate a series that has the breadth of all of those different influences and ?friendships,” he said.
