The soulful, new wave meets southern-rock project of Travis Stever and cousin Tyler Klose, the name Davenport Cabinet comes from two American magicians – the Davenport brothers – from the late 1800’s. The Davenports’ most famous presentation was known as the box illusion. The trick would start with the brothers tied up and closed inside a large cabinet containing numerous musical instruments. Once the cabinet was closed, the instruments would begin to make sounds as if they were being played by the brothers. Upon opening the cabinet, the brothers were found tied in the same positions in which they had started the illusion. Those who witnessed the act were made to believe that the magicians had channeled spirits to play the instruments. Stever explains, “I have a little room in my house where I record all of my ideas,  and sometimes when no one is in there, my wife, many of our guests, and I hear footsteps and other random noises. You can hear the strings vibrate as if someone was trying to play one of the instruments.” He admits, “It is probably just the house settling but it still just made me think – ‘maybe I have my very own Davenport Cabinet’.”

Musically, Davenport Cabinet imports nearly as many influences as Stever’s now legendary record collection: Leonard Cohen to Dinosaur Jr. to Neil Young (the gamut, from “Harvest” to “Trans”) to Mojave 3. Stever admits his music takes him to better places and times, as he waxes melancholy “Nostalgia in Stereo, “I surrender to nostalgia/memories of better days in life/I surrender to simple melodies/I know you can never take them from me.” Davenport Cabinet is bound to make your life a little simpler, at least on the ears.