Colin Devlin launched his career 25 years ago, alongside his brother Peter, in The Devlins. During their decade-long tenure, the four-piece from Newry received glowing praise from Rolling Stone and their music featured on soundtracks for Batman Forever and cult television series Six Feet Under. The Devlins were poised for U2 levels of success.
Today, however, Devlin's solo material struggles to be relevant in an extremely competitive industry. Bridging an eight-year gap since his solo debut, Democracy of One, High Point epitomises the ill-fated difficult second album. These 11 songs, whilst ambitious in their production, fail to make a lasting impression.
Recording in Los Angeles, Devlin collaborated with producer Pierre Marchand whose clientele includes Rufus Wainwright, Ron Sexsmith and Stevie Nicks. An impressive roll-call of artists lauded for their originality and depth – two qualities this record seriously lacks.
Overly produced compositions are underpinned with vacuous and cliched lyrics. Nostalgia is fuelled with teenage angst: “Do you remember all the tears I cried over you?” precedes the unconvincing lament, “I want you but I don’t want you back.”
With little personality or memorable melodies, High Point sees Colin Devlin's music at an all-time low.
