Curse Your Little Heart

Released in 2006 between How It Ends and A Mad and Faithful Telling, this six-song EP stands up nicely on its own. The album’s only original composition, the fine title track, would have fit on their previous release, while the other five are covers, and the choices are both unexpected and ideally suited to DeVotchKa’s breed of cabaret-colored indie-rock. On “I Cried Like a Silly Boy” and “Something Stupid,” the latter most closely associated with Frank Sinatra, singer Nick Urata croons, coos, and slurs seductively, and both are well done. The tunes that stand out most here are an inspired version of Siouxsie and the Banshees’ “The Last Beat of My Heart,” which they really make their own, and a take on the Velvet Underground’s “Venus In Furs,” in which they replace the drone of the original with an equally intense pulsating rhythm and wonderfully warbly vocal by Urata. It closes with the traditional “El Zopilote Mojado,” a delightful romp that manages to meld mariachi and Eastern European sensibilities. No mere between-album filler, Curse Your Little Heart is an enjoyable concept and worthy compliment to the band’s accomplished full-length albums, and a must for DeVotchKa fans.