Wednesday, March 12   8:00 p.m.
Maggie Mae's   (323 E 6th St)

  Devon Williams - A Truce
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Over the course of a year and a half, Devon Williams recorded at three different studios around Los Angeles, walking away with a handful of songs each time. Seven guitar tracks, ten different mixes for some songs, paying entirely out of pocket, pushing favors, Williams scrutinized every moment stealing whatever moments possible to achieve his ideal sound. None of this is particularly newsworthy. Yet Carefree is.

Williams' debut album has a melodic complexity that belies its immediacy, and descends from a lineage of great music generally and unjustifiably overlooked today. Those yearning for a return to intelligent pop music – songs as gratifying on their 1,963th listen as they are memorable after their first – need look no further.

Take songs such as "A Truce" or "Honey." They presumably come from a lifelong fan of greats such as Nilsson and Chilton, Cope and Downes, Lennon and McLennan. However, Devon Williams sports an unlikely background. While many people had a hyper teenage punk band, the controversial Osker, a group formed when Williams was 16 years old, was signed. He quickly learned the benefits and dangers of the scene as he proceeded to kill punks' idols. As Williams grew up, the manic energy of Osker became less appealing than a more expanse pop sound. So the band broke up. This led Williams to test new approaches, recording and touring in various setups before centering in on the sound that would define Carefree. Help from friends Allen Bleye and Greg Arnold, with whom he still plays, were key.

You would have heard this record a year ago. However, before he finished mixing, Williams was contacted by his friend, and string arranger, Steve Gregoropoulous. Steve's band, Lavender Diamond, was looking for a guitarist, so Wiliams joined on. It demanded total commitment, and served the purpose of forcing him to finish up the recordings. He spent the past year touring and performing with the band. Upon completion, he added the final details of Carefree, gaining a fan in Dan Bejar (Destroyer, New Pornographers) along the way. Bejar sent a copy to Ba Da Bing, and here we are.