Devin Davis speaks in a slow drawl, carefully choosing every word.
It should come as no surprise that the singer-songwriter approaches writing in much the same manner, spending weeks or even months at a time crafting a single tune.
Davis’ 2005 debut, “Lonely People of the World, Unite!” which garnered praise from magazines such as Entertainment Weekly, was the product of more than three years’ work — a laborious pace he’s maintaining as he records his still-untitled follow-up. Of course, the situation wasn’t helped when he was forced from his Bucktown basement apartment/recording studio in January after a high-end jeweler moved into the storefront above him.
“I’m sure they thought I was a maniac, crazy person living in the basement,” Davis said. “So that was a bit of a kink in the process. I kept waiting for it to happen because it was this ridiculously cheap space in the middle of all these Jaguars and [Mercedes] Benzes. I just wish it hadn’t happened in January.”
The singer didn’t put up much of a fight when he was asked to leave, describing the apartment as “dreary” and prone to flooding. Instead, Davis moved in with a friend and found a rehearsal space that he could bicycle to in 10 minutes — just long enough for his eyelids to start freezing in the dead of winter. There the Clinton, Iowa-born musician, who has lived in Chicago for eight years, works on his sophomore LP.
“I was so passionate about the first album that I want to make sure I capture the same feeling this time around,” Davis said. “And it’s happening. It’s just … slow moving.”
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Devin Davis
When: 6:30 p.m. Tuesday
Where: Museum of Contemporary Art, 220 E. Chicago Ave.
