Why You Should Be Listening to The Devlins

431 Morris Avenue

Jul 10, 2025

There are certain albums that never quite got their due, but still manage to hang around in your life, aging gracefully and sounding just as vital as the day you first heard them. For me, Drift by The Devlins is one of those. Released in 1993, this debut from the Irish brothers Colin and Peter Devlin is simply one of the best alternative rock albums that most people have never heard of.

I remember when I stumbled across Drift, it was love at first listen, it stuck with me, and still does. There’s something incredibly cinematic and atmospheric about this record. It has that windswept, late-night-on-the-coast kind of feel—moody and introspective without ever tipping into pretension.

The production by visionary producer Daniel Lanois is lush but never overdone. Echoing guitars, warm bass lines, brushed drums—everything feels like it was recorded through the lens of a rainy Dublin afternoon. Songs like “I Knew That,” “Drift,” and “Almost Made You Smile” perfectly capture that early-’90s alternative sound, when sincerity and subtlety were still allowed in rock music.

The album isn’t flashy. It doesn’t try to knock you over with hooks. Instead, it sneaks up on you. The songwriting is thoughtful, even poetic at times, and Colin Devlin’s voice—melancholy and earnest—delivers it all with a quiet intensity that’s hard to fake. There’s a lived-in quality to this music that made it feel timeless even back then.

Rolling Stone gave Drift a 4-star review when it came out, which was a big deal, at least in theory. But for whatever reason—poor marketing, bad timing, who knows—the album never really broke through commercially. Still, I’ve kept it in regular rotation for literally decades, and I suspect I’m not the only one. The people who did hear this album tend to carry it with them. It’s that kind of record.

The Devlins went on to release a handful of other albums, each with its own merit, but Drift remains the high-water mark. If you’re into the layered emotionality of bands like The Blue Nile, or the textural brilliance of Talk Talk, or just want to fall into a record that rewards repeated listens, this is a perfect place to land.

Sometimes the best albums are the ones that never fought for your attention—they just waited patiently to be found.