INTERVIEW: Sara Devoe Finds Inspiration in New York City, and Classic Irish Literature
**This article originally appeared in our November print issue.**
Photo by Elissa Ebersold
“I'm really good at not overthinking when it comes to music.”
It’s 10:00 a.m. when I begin talking to Sara Devoe. The songwriter has just returned home from a trip to Wisconsin less than eight hours ago, is in-between training sessions for a half-marathon just a few days away, and is even filling what limited free time she has left over re-reading the entire Twilight series. Yet, here she sits in her Brooklyn apartment, her pet rabbit Lyle by her feet, keen to discuss the impending release of her debut full-length record, which has been in the works for quite some time.
The story really begins four years ago, when the Delmar native needed a fresh start. In search of a job that aligned with her college degree, she eventually settled in Brooklyn, which also provided a blank slate for her musical endeavors. After spending a few years writing music in the Capital Region, she hoped a change in her surroundings would provide a welcome spurt of inspiration.
“I felt kind of boxed in, I guess,” she admits. “All these people from high school were there, and I just felt kind of embarrassed. I needed to be somewhere where no one had any preconceived notions of me. So I thought the only thing to do was to move to New York City, and just kind of start over and break into the scene.”
Before she uprooted, Devoe was living at home with her mom and younger brother, having been sent home from college at SUNY Geneseo due to the pandemic. It was during this extended period at home where she began writing music more seriously. While classes were slow and uncertainty was everywhere, she took it upon herself to learn the recording software Logic Pro, and start experimenting with the left-handed guitar her grandparents had gifted her for her 17th birthday.
“I wouldn’t say that I was very good at it,” Devoe says. “I have a deformity on my left hand so I wasn’t sure how much I’d be able to really play guitar. But I started learning covers and from there, it started to kind of click for me.”
That summer, she wrote and recorded her first collection of songs, an EP called Harsh. She connected with someone through a Discord channel who not only helped her with mixing and mastering, but guided her through the entire process of releasing music to the public. Fast forward to today, and she’s on the verge of releasing her first full-length collection, Come Away, O Human Child, which was recorded under vastly different circumstances compared to her humble beginnings.
“When I was recording those first songs in my room during COVID, I honestly might have been recording into my laptop microphone,” she laughs. “It's really, really rough, but still nostalgic when I look back on it. With this full-length project, I have been working with an engineer, I've been recording in a studio. There have been a lot of different musicians involved, and it’s been a really amazing process.”
On Come Away, O Human Child, Devoe sounds like she’s been doing this her entire life. Every song is thoughtfully arranged, containing an eclectic mix of instrumentation, while somehow maintaining an incredible amount of cohesion. Throughout the record’s 10 songs, listeners are greeted by vaudevillian-style piano, banjos, violins, mandolins, downtuned acoustic guitars and more. There’s even a homemade shaker containing bread crumbs that shows up somewhere. It’s a true kitchen sink approach that Devoe found quite natural.
“It was kind of freeing,” she admits. “I'm really good at not overthinking when it comes to music. And I feel like a lot of the other musicians I work with are not. So I second guess myself in that sense… but I probably won't change.”
Sonically, Devoe’s new material falls somewhere in the middle of a Venn diagram containing Phoebe Bridgers on one side and grunge-revivalist act Momma on the other. Every song feels like a peek inside a diary. Devoe’s vocals are gentle and soothing, at times haunting, but never abrasive. She has a knack for inviting the listener into mostly confessional tales, which also contain inspiration from an unexpected place.
“I read a lot of Irish literature. The name of the album is a quote from a poem by WB Yeats called ‘The Stolen Child.’ And there's a lot of Irish references throughout the album. I spent a summer studying Yeats in Ireland, so I thought it was time to bring this into fruition, I guess. Why fight it?”
Although Devoe’s writing leans personal, she began exploring a more fictional approach while crafting this record. She notes that one of her favorites, “Yearning Song,” is about an invented infidelity between a southern woman and her husband who’s away at war. This new method proved to be a lot of fun for Devoe, and allowed her to stretch her creative muscles a bit more than normal.
“It’s a route that I might try to explore a bit more, because it was freeing. And it also takes some pressure off the lyrics. I'm writing about two random people, so I can say whatever I want.”
During the making of any record, any artist will tell you there are certain songs that seem to just pour out, as if being siphoned directly from brain to recording. “Yearning Song” was one of those songs for Devoe, alongside the first song she wrote for the record, “A Secret / The Moon.” In fact, without the latter, this album may have turned out very differently, or perhaps not at all. It became an unintended opportunity to stay true to herself, and ended up shaping the course of the entire record.
“I didn't know this was going to be a project until that song, honestly,” she tells me. “It was a really different vibe from the songs I’d been releasing, but it seemed genuine to what I was feeling in that moment and what I wanted the music to sound like. It was so different, but it sounded like music that I like to listen to — Haley Heynderickx, Slow Pulp, Wednesday. I felt like I could work with that.”
Come Away, O Human Child releases on Halloween, a purposeful choice for Devoe. “It’s such a fall album, just in how it sounds… and October is my favorite month!” Many fellow Capital Region-ers — current or former, as the case may be — would agree with her on that. Listening to her album, it’s clear that between the confessional lyrics and the spooky undertones that permeate some of the track listing, the songs are well-equipped to soundtrack all varieties of upstate New York autumn activities. Do yourself a favor, o human child — click ‘add to playlist.’
Sara Devoe’s album is available now on all major streaming services, and Bandcamp at saradevoe.bandcamp.com.
