Devin Pinkham, better known as Dev Soter wants to make what he describes as “legacy music.”
He rang off a couple of people in this lane. Early Kanye, James Blake, and FINNEAS were the first three.
“Music you feel like your life is on the line if you don’t make this kind of music.”
A bold statement. But there are a couple of things that separate this from just talk: taste, talent, and dedication. Dev Soter has all three.
He also told some key influences on his sound. Jesse Rutherford and Julian Casablancas, the lead singers of The Neighborhood and The Strokes respectively, were big ones.
He also listed JPEGMAFIA and Brockhampton too in a long list of names. He named Saba as well, and specifically his album CARE FOR ME for its storytelling.
Though he’s no stranger or ordinary fan looking up to Saba. Before making music himself, he was a concert photographer. He shot a Saba show, and eventually, the two formed a friendship. He’d check up on the new music Dev was making.
But that takes us to the beginning because his music journey begins around when this time passes.
He’s not from a musical family. But he always knew he wanted to make music. He would freestyle with friends from time to time.
He credits his friend Anthony who pointed out he had a talent for it and encouraged him to make music. In early 2020 he gave him his equipment and showed him the ropes of Garage Band. He later transferred over to Logic and eventually taught himself guitar, bass, and a little keys. All through practice and YouTube videos.
This time early on brought about his first project Sunburn that May, which he’s since deleted. He described it as “the worst thing ever.” But hey, you’ve got to start somewhere.
Fast forward nine months to February 2021. The Dida Tapes release. He doesn’t remember making most of the project, simply by nature of him letting it happen. He was teaching himself how to make music.
The project holds some great work and is a fantastic kickstart to his discography. “Hills” is a laid-back testament of youth. The indie-leaning track has him sing-rapping throughout. “Brainless” is another standout that flips the script. A funk song seething with psychedelia. Great listen.
Dev Soter also stands out for being genreless. It’s a mish-mash of all his different influences. Both widely and unique with substance. He takes all these to make music that represents him.
Take another song, “all up from here” as another example. It starts on a quick rap verse with vocal distortions of the SATURATION days of Brockhampton paired with drums and guitars that might come from a Strokes song. And on the lyric side, the song is a clever and candid take about stressing on the future.
In terms of his process, sometimes he takes a riff, a bass line, and builds a world around it. Sometimes it’s just a one-liner from the notes app on his phone. And the beauty of it all is it’s entirely his own creation.
Dev has all production credits for his discography up until this point. Self-taught and self-produced.
Again, musically he’s not in one box. There are hints of indie rock, rap, and funk throughout.
He’s making sure he’s doing it the right way too:
“I don’t want to be disrespectful to this ‘genreless thing I’m trying to figure out. So I’m just putting everything I have into every song I make.”
When you have all the tools to build, there’s no limit to how high you can go. You can make legacy music. Plus the music’s already great, which makes him a very exciting artist to watch going forward. He has an EP on the way to release in the coming months. He added he got to work with some of his idols on the project.
Keep an eye out for new music soon!
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