Devon Ross

Artists // Devon Ross
Venue // Zebulon
Date // 02042026
Indexed By // caden

I didn’t know much about Devon Ross besides recognizing her from photographer Jason Renaud’s work. Cameron convinced me it was worth going to Zebulon on a Wednesday, which was a hard sell, but I’m easily convinced.

We got there just as the opener was finishing, so the whole crowd migrated outside for a smoke break before Devon's set. A few minutes later we filed into the back room with maybe thirty others. Mixed bag of friends and fans.

Her sound was kind of what I expected, but in the best way. Two guitars feed back into each other and she drones straight through it instead of floating above it. Her voice has this bored, sung-spoken drawl that doesn't try to sit on top of the music, but lives inside the noise. You can hear the influences (Sonic Youth, Breeders, Pavement), but it never feels like pastiche. She has this PJ Harvey posture where she can sing almost anything and it effortlessly lands. It's probably why Alexa Chung called her the coolest girl in London.

My favorite part of the set was how she and her guitarist played off each other. It didn't feel like he was just there to support her or keep everything locked to a track. They let the songs bend and breathe, playing into each other until the feedback started to feel like the point. She restarted a song early on, and it somehow made the whole thing feel even more alive, like you were watching something happen instead of something being delivered

By the end of the night, the room felt smaller than it was. The feedback hung in the air after she stopped playing, and nobody moved to fill it.

*THE INDEX

Overall Rating // [3.5]

Atmosphere // [3.7]
Crowd // [3.3]
Venue // [3.2]