Album Review: Hunting what we already killed | Dev Lemons
Today I want to give the floor to indie artist Devon Vonder Schmalz...who goes by the stage name Dev Lemons. Her sophomore album "hunting what we already killed" came out on October 2nd, and listening to this project front to back, I feel there is so much goodness here to unpack. This is my official introduction to Dev, and although this is a strictly indie project...it's one of the most accessible bodies of work that I've come across in a long time.
The album opens with the second released single, "only one way to know" which sets the stage, a song with a sunny disposition but these really vulnerable and honest lyrics. What Dev Lemons does in this album is create a world where the messages hurt, but the delivery is one with a smile: "No, I'll be fine. It's okay if it's really over. Stop before I start to think of us growing older." She flirts with the anger and sadness of betrayal through the album while dressing it as this silky smooth cadence in her vocal delivery.
As the tracks proceed we get to see her try on anger as a costume. The first single "eat the pavement" has a poppy and upbeat frosting of production layered over themes of rage and rejection; "Face it, I'm throwing all your letters in the basement. Withered to the bone of all my patience. All you wanna do is make it up to me, I'll make you eat the pavement." She effortlessly interweaves these themes together with an alternative rock sound.
The real standout of this album for me comes with the third single released; "best friend" (my introduction to her music)...on the surface the title sounds like levity, but it is the total opposite. Dev Lemons contorts the sounds of trip hop and rock with this really amazing blend...her vocal delivery and the lyrics dealing with the wishy - washiness of a potential partner. "Then why did you go back to her? Why did you go back to her? Really, why did you go back to her?". A question that interlaces every feeling of being friend-zoned by a person you want to be partners with.
What I find most impressive is that this album is a cohesive body of work with only two people who worked on the entire production...Dev also spent three months animating the zany and wacky lyric videos that feature her in surrealism in a classic Macintosh dressing...she spent three solid months editing the visual elements to go along with the songwriting. Every choice is deliberate and she creates her own sonic world-building and the way each song breathes into the next. All in all, this is a truly sturdy body of work and a sucker punch of a sophomore album.
There are so many standout moments in this album...from the trippy hallucinogenic dopamine hits of "pace", to the radio accessible poppiness of "what happened to you"...even the atmospheric melancholy of "i never wanted to hurt u (interlude)". From the beginning to the end of the album, it keeps you on your toes, sonically and lyrically. I think this album deserves its full attention...a congratulations and a thank you to Dev Lemons for this work.
Listen to Hunting what we already killed here:
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