Dan Devon’s Against All Odds is a grounded, self-driven indie-folk effort.
Against All Odds is an album by Dan Devon. Described as “a collection of songs, stories, and colors written by Dan Devon,” the album was released on May 1st through Bandcamp.
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“At the end of the day, you don’t even need my help, but I want you to be my belt.” This opening track features a touching vocal performance backed solely by an acoustic guitar. It sounds like a tried-and-true formula, but Dan’s approach certainly ignites a new flame somehow.
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“I’ll say no names. I’ll let the popular sing.” The lyricism on this track is healthy, to put it lightly. Pair it with a slightly haunting performance, and you have an intriguing follow-up to the opener.
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“Odd” sustains the chilling energy with fluctuations in the reverb on the chorus.
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Here, we have yet another lightly thrilling acoustic performance.
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Shakers come in and out of this track’s verse, giving it a bit of a spaghetti-western embellishment—not that it needed it, though, as the track would’ve still been awesome without it. Let’s also take this moment to appreciate how intense Dan Devon’s singing has been. Possibly, let’s extend that appreciation to their playing of multiple instruments throughout the album, given that no other artists are credited on this.
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Neat track.
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“You see the ducks go quack. I see the ducks go quack.” This track feels like a trippy interlude.
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The energy returns with “Hot Sauce,” a modestly catchy rock song.
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Of all the album’s acoustic ballads, this one seems to be the tamest.
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The lightly chilling aura returns on this track.
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Closing track feels like a faster-paced companion to “Josephina,” but its placement at the end of the tracklist gives the project a nice resolve.
I believe our ears are in good hands here, for the most part. There’s only a small bit of a stylistic shift towards the end, with the album’s latter tracks leaning a bit into the more paint-by-the-numbers indie-folk tracks, but the earlier portion of the record carries its weight strongly enough.
Overall, it’s a neat record that I recommend fans of folk music listen to.
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