“Come inside, stay until the morning light.” – Reva DeVito
Reva DeVito is an angel-hippie who uses a sexy charm and incredible voice to encourage the Northwest to smoke a joint, have a drink, love someone, and dream. Those of us who need this type of encouragement least enjoy her music most. It’s electronic/soul/funk/jazz music for hip hop heads and hippie chicks; it’s great.
Reva is also Portland’s beautiful, cool, (sometimes) blond girl at the party who can play the guitar, freestyle and cook.
Her debut release, The Catnip Collective EP, included production from Steveland Swatkins and Tony Ozier amongst others. (The EP was mixed by Macklemore’s producer Ryan Lewis.) She teamed up with Portland based DJ and producer Roane Namuh for her new project Cloudshine.
“I feel like what I wanted to do was what I did on this Record with Roane…That Jazzy, hip hop based sound. That’s the shit I love to sing on. It was nice to meet up with Roane and be able to do that,” she explained. “We met at Moloko. The first couple of times he came and DJ’d, he played all of my favorite tracks. I approached him, and gave him a CD. I was like, ‘I love what you’re playing, do you make beats?'” She continued, “The next time I saw him he gave me a beat CD.”
Reva was raised by a couple of hippies (the good kind).
“My family is kind of an outdoor adventure type,” she said. “They liked to party, and–during the summertime–grow their own vegetables. They have a mini vineyard. My dad makes wine. We have solar panels.”
She played soccer throughout high school and was active with music more as a hobby.
“I got my first guitar when I was 16. I grew up out in the country so I played the guitar out at bonfires, and at house parties.”
Reva was originally “discovered” by John the Baptist, a former member of the Sandpeople.
“I was in the apartment, just kind of cleaning up, I was singing and I didn’t think anyone was home. John came out of his room, and was like, ‘Whoa, I didn’t know you could sing. I’d love to get you on a track.'”
I first heard her on Onry Ozzborn’s Dark Time Sunshine album Vessel. (If you have never heard Dark Time Sunshine, please go listen now. Onry does an amazing job of running the point on the project, and everyone featured on it–Reva included–hits a homerun.)
Zebulon Dak was the engineer for Reva’s sessions while working on the Dark Time Sunshine album.
“When she recorded Vessel, she was still a bit young and needed some direction. What she did for the new (Dark Time Sunshine) album, she just handled like a boss,” he said. “I watched her get the Doug Fir cracking. She had dudes front stage dancing and having a blast. She’s a legit front man and can control the crowd. She has great musical taste and one of the best voices I’ve ever recorded.”
It doesn’t take long to realize that everyone who works with Reva becomes a fan.
“She’s Adele & Bjork tongue kissing in cursive. She’s Annie Lennox’s lip glass. Reva is wonderful to say the least,” said Onry Ozzborn.
Trumpeter Farnell Newton was featured on The Catnip Collective EP and also has been impressed by Reva’s talent and work ethic.
” I have been working with Reva Devito for the past four years, and I have seen her grow into her own as a songwriter and as a performer…I love listening to her smooth smoking voice. She reminds me of jazz singer Billy Holiday. She brings it to you raw and uncut.”
Make sure you download her album Cloudshine today (with a suggested donation).
She’s performing on February 16th in Seattle at the Crocodile, and will be in Portland at Ted’s Berbati Pan on March 30th performing with Grynch and Wax Trap as part of We Out Here Magazine’s first birthday party.
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