He’s little Mr. Sunshine

DeVotchKa singer on melancholy melodies and experimental instruments

INTERVIEW. Mixing elements of Eastern European folk, Mexican mariachi and everything in between, the music of Denver’s DeVotchKa is something like the convergence of a dozen stereos pointing out of the windows in the most ethnically diverse neighborhoods of Brooklyn. It’s probably safe to say that they’re the coolest band featuring accordion, sousaphone and bouzouki you’ll hear all year. Singer Nick Urata pulls the divergent threads together with his soulful, tortured vocals. We spoke with him before he loaded in for a gig in Milwaukee.

Do you find taking elements from such a wide variety of world music is liberating within a sort of indie rock context? 
Yeah, definitely. I think that’s why I started the whole thing. I didn’t want to paint myself into a corner, musically. I kind of wanted to do something different than the guitar and drums palate that you must use. I’ve been doing this for a long time, but I started to experiment early on, gravitating toward older sounds and folkier instruments.

When was the first time your eyes were opened to the broader instrumental possibilities?
I started playing trumpet as a kid, listening to things like Louis Armstrong and Louis Prima.  So I always had a taste for vintage stuff.  Being a trumpet player kind of puts you in a different ballpark. So then I moved onto some more exotic stuff.

Is it hard to switch on the fly between instruments in a show?
Like you said, it’s kind of liberating. ... It’s like dating a new girl or something [laughs].  ... [As a multi-instrumentalist] you’re the color  man. Someone gives you like a black and white page and you splash it full of beautiful colors. It can be a great spot to be in.

Is it  important for music to seem rooted in a time and place, or is the exact opposite the point for you? A sort of timeless quality?
When we were writing stuff and experimenting with stuff, it was like a great escape for me. It would bring about these exotic visuals of exotic places I couldn’t afford to go to at the time. I want the music to sort of take the listener somewhere … romantic visions of the past, like a black and white Fellini film. Maybe a Sergio Leone landscape.

Your music has a melancholy feel to it, but with a sort of boisterous fun approach at times ...
I think it’s definitely like therapy for the melancholy. ... The times when you really realize you’re alive and thankful to be alive is when your whole world has just crashed around you.

DeVotchKa
Sunday, 9 p.m.
The Paradise
967 Comm. Ave., Boston
MBTA: Green B Line to Pleasant
$19.50, 18+, 617-931-2000
www.thedise.com