Bio : Colin Devlin
Democracy of One is not a debut––it’s our reintroduction to the unforgettable soundscapes crafted by this seasoned songwriter for more than a decade.
“I love to write songs, play music and perform. It's not a job for me, It never has been”.
“I came to creating music quite late, maybe sixteen, when I started to learn to play the guitar and sing, I still consider myself a beginner". With encouragement from his brother Peter, Colin started to write original songs and they soon began playing intimate gigs to packed houses in Dublin. He attended Trinity College for an amazing ‘academic’ year before he had the pleasure of informing the Dean of Students that he'd been offered a recording deal by Capitol Records in Los Angeles and he wouldn't be back any time soon. Since then they've have recorded four albums as The Devlins along with some amazing musicians, producers and friends. They've toured extensively throughout the world.
He's taken these experiences and drawn upon them to help him make his first solo record - Democracy Of One.
“Montreal has always been a very inspiring place for me, its full of life and art and drama, a perfect place to write and record music, so it seemed the obvious choice for me to record Democracy Of One there” with my long time friend, producer and collaborator Pierre Marchand. Pierre also produced the second Devlin's album ‘Waiting’, all of Sarah McLachlan’s records along with several for Rufus Wainwright.
"We had the luxury of time on this one, which can go both ways" says Colin "but Pierre had just built a great new studio and I willingly became the initial test case". We did it in a couple of recording stints which really helped, as they gave us time to think about what we had recorded and revisit it with fresh ears”. For the most part the band was a three piece on the album consisting of Colin on guitars and vocals, Pierre on bass and piano and their friend Matt Chamberlain (Tori Amos,Fiona Apple) on drums,.”I wanted to keep it as sparse and as direct as possible and I think we succeeded in that" adds Colin "We put everything we had into it at the time and I'm very proud of the recording and hope many people get to hear it."
Democracy of One takes Colin’s reputation for erudite simplicity to a whole new level. With this intimate solo album Devlin explores matters of the heart in a lush acoustic setting that puts his voice front and center, adding emotional nuance to singles “The Heart Won’t Be Denied,” “Refuge,” and “Raise the Dead.”
In 2010 Colin was nominated for 'Best Irish Male’ at the Meteor Music Awards and Best Music Video for ‘The Heart Won’t Be Denied’ at the IMTV Awards.Another highlight was his standout concert performance at The Sundance Film Festival.
He has seen songs from ‘Democracy Of One’ placed in several hit US television shows including One Tree Hill, Grey’s Anatomy, Private Practice and The Cleaner.
He has also recently completed the original soundtrack scores for South American Director Sebastian Lopez’ new movie ‘The Killing Joke' and also a Science Fiction film entitled 'Protocol'for LA based director Pat Hartonian.