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There is a bit of confusion surrounding Devon. There are two of them, apparently, floating around; the one with whom we are concerned is from Charlottesville, Virginia and has at the ripe age of 19 released her second CD, LONG SLEEVE STORY. She has an edge up on most independent artists insofar as Stefan Lessard, he of the Dave Mathews Band, handled the production chores on this. As with the DMB, this is a mixed blessing, as some of the excesses as well as a few of that band's many faults, leak over into Devon's projects. What ultimately saves this one, however, is the saving grace lacking in DMB, namely, great songs.

Before there was Alana Morissette, Tori Amos, et al., there was Liz Phair, who never forgot and never forgets what rock is all about. There are a couple of tracks on here which are evocative of Phair's work, most notably "25mph,"the opening track, and "Keep Light." "Sleep Satisfied," though it meanders and drones away in the best style of Dave Mathews, at least seems to have some passion behind it while avoiding the primal scream hysteria of Tori Amos. Devon is, interestingly enough, at her most powerful when her arrangements are stripped bare, on tracks such as "Fast Statue" and "What I'm Used To." My favorite lyrics of the whole CD are contained in the latter track, about an obsessive love: "I feel so silly/when you won't talk to me/and all I've got is this great big crush/I get so stupid around you and it ain't what I'm used to/ maybe I've been thinkin', thinkin' about you, a little too much." Things start out with just Devon and her guitar, then the drums come in, and gradually build to a crescendo of horns in the middle before fading back to the original guitar and voice arrangement by song's end. "Better At Night," on the other hand, sounds downright sinister, with Devon doing her best Kim Fowley over a slow Neil Young lick, before making a left turn into what almost sounds like a child's nursery rhyme before turning around and coming back.

"Way Up There" is faintly reminiscent, in a spare way, of Nick Drake's quieter work off of FIVE LEAVES LEFT, with the track rising out of some city sounds with just Devon and her guitar, one occasionally almost drowning out the other, with percussion lightly intruding occasionally. It's a track that is perhaps the most challenging on the CD to listen to, while at the same time it's one of the most addicting. On the other hand, sometimes a fuller arrangement makes the song, In "Let Me In On It," an otherwise weak track is saved by the sudden and welcome appearance of a jazz trumpet solo. Such is not the case, however, with the title track, which suffers from intermittent heavy-handedness. Devon brings things back, however, in fine form with "Swamp Love," a southern rock opus with unforgettable lyrics: "they got a big wall built up around him/once you get in you can't leave" and another killer, if unexpected, trumpet solo on the break.

While there are contrasts of quality on LONG SLEEVE STORY, Devon demonstrates enough flashes of brilliance to make the occasionally rocky road a worthwhile one to travel. Should she choose to continue to travel the independent route she'll no doubt continue to hone her songwriting chops; LONG SLEEVE STORY contains the promise of better things to come.