Gateway Online

¡Don’t Hurry for Heaven! is a more devout way of saying "good things come to those who wait." I’m not exactly sure what it is that alt-country chanteuse Devon Sproule is waiting for, but I can’t help but feel it’s something familiar. Singing in a revealing yet conversational tone, Sproule sounds as if she’s telling you all the intimate details of her life. That is, until you realize everything she’s saying is far more whimsical and simultaneously opaque than a first listen might indicate. She even includes Spanish exclamation points on the album title. ¿Por qué? No sé amigos.

Sproule opens the album with the lines “I asked God for a job, he put me on a plane / All the people that I love, the people that I’m from / are far away,” which is probably the clearest statement as to what she’s thinking: no se puede vivir sin amor (translation: "one cannot live without love.").

It’s got a few soft spots, but the album is mostly engaging and the arrangements are unique. The understated complexity of the melodies serves as a great foil to the deceptively poetic lyrics. As the album carries itself forward, it always sounds sincere in its desire to tell a simple story of complex things. Or maybe it really is a lot more simple than that. “You should be practicing on me, just about every day” is what Sproule sings on the title track, and just maybe, "don’t hurry for heaven" means you pay more attention to what’s around you.