Devin Clara Fanslow is a multi-instrumentalist (guitar and mandolin), vocalist, composer, and producer. From her roots in classical music, and explorations in electronics, jazz, folk, and metal, her style of composition branches out into stylistic practices showcased through her three ensemble projects: Fire Thief (light), Bat Hawk (medium), and Serval Initiative (heavy). Outside of those groups, her music can be heard on the stage, and in the media, having produced music for podcasts, games, and short films.

Devin is inspired by the natural world around her, and what exists outside the spectrum of our vision. Her music often references the mystical and science-fictional, to create a storytelling landscape through music. These can include the birth of a sun, depicted in a trumpet choir titled The Collective, a deer she saw in a Chicago graveyard during lockdown, inspiring Faun for brass quintet, or the enduring oppression of western apocalypticism depicted in Hold Please, as recorded by Serval Initiative. 

Regardless of the topic of inspiration, human identity and the struggle for connectedness is at the heart of her writing. Devin’s own identity, as a transgender woman, has been explored through music. Highlighting, again, the overall humanness of the trans experience to create recognition of shared struggles around gender norms. 

During a time of heightened anxiety, and after having to quit playing trumpet due to a jaw injury, Devin has taken that stress and channeled it through death metal vocals, finding the practice very cathartic. Exploring texture and impact, using the voice to growl, scream, and roar, has helped shake off expectations and judgments by those whose implicit biases demand a specific gendered performance.