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DeVotchKa - "Transliterator"

This week's Drop has a stringed, burlesqued, Gypsy-cum-Coloradan air courtesy of Little Miss Sunshine soundtrackers and Siouxsie coverers DeVotchka. Their rollicking, breezy "Transliterator" comes from the quartet's forthcoming ANTI- debut, A Mad and Faithful Telling. Helping us, uh, transliterate, vocalist Nick Urata, who also handles guitars, piano, trumpet, bouzoki, theremin, and we're guessing even more, stopped through and gave us the inside scoop.

What's the narrative behind the track? Is "Transliterator" a reference to a lack of communication?
"Transliterator" is the classic case of two lovers waltzing their way around the truth, which is right in the center of the room -- but it is the hardest place to get to. Throughout the song he (the narrator) is trying to make her see how bright the future is. He is trying to put the intangible -- the unspeakable beauty of life -- into words. And fails. He must alliterate that which can not be articulated and translate the truth buried in the language of the liar.

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