Justin Devries

Justin Devries is a musician and historian whose work lies at the intersections of percussion, electronics, and experimental composition techniques. His recent historical work investigated local settler interactions with experimental electronic and Indonesian music in Vancouver from the 1960s-1990s through the life and work of Martin Bartlett, completing an MA thesis in 2024 which provides the most comprehensive overview of Bartlett’s life written to date. His subsequent writing on Bartlett was also published in The Urban History Review/Revue d’histoire urbaine. His recent composition work includes the debut album of his group Universal Affirmation Ensemble, and he is a well-travelled percussionist who has performed locally and internationally including at Pitchfork Festival Paris, Le Guess Who in Utrecht, London’s Mirrors Festival, and the Vancouver International Jazz Festival. He lives on the unceded territory of the Sḵwxwú7mesh, Xwməθkwəyəm and Səl’il’wətaʔ peoples.