Natural Mystic

Devendra Banhart is sort of a mystic musician, a gypsy of sorts.  For whatever reason when I see him in pictures I think he looks like the Billy Walsh character on Entourage.  Anyway, I knew very little about him musically until recently when I just picked up his record Rejoicing in the Hands (which was on my list to review and is the topic of this post) at a local Borders store that was closing.  His music is fairly interesting, but I’ll talk about that in a bit.

Banhart was born in Texas to a Venezuelan mother and American father.  His full name, Devendra Obi Banhart, has was derived from interesting sources; his given name is a synonym for Indra, the Hindu god of rain and thunder, and his middle name is derived from the Star Wars character Obi-Wan Kenobi.  His parents divorced when he was two, and his mother and he moved back to Venezuela where he lived until he was 14.  At 18 he earned a scholarship to attend the San Francisco Art Institute, but he dropped out to perform and later moved to Paris when the economy in San Francisco worsened after the dot-com bust.  When he returned later in 2000, he was discovered by a local record producer, who would eventually sign him and release Rejoicing in the Hands.

#56 – Devendra Banhart, Rejoicing in the Hands (Metascore = 88)

The one thing that really captures my interest in this album right away is its simplicity.  In “simplicity” I mean we aren’t burdened with an orchestra of instruments, let alone a group of musicians that have come together.  This is, for the most part, just Banhart and his guitar recording new folk music that, I believe, gives the genre a fresh breath of air.  Unlike what I have heard recently from Gillian Welch on Time (The Revelator), which leaned more to her country and bluegrass roots, Banhart’s folk is traditional in the way Bob Dylan used to be in the early 1960s or Nick Drake in the early 1970s.  There is even a hint of 1960s psychedelia in the sounds (consider “When the Sun Shone on Vetiver”).

Banhart’s playing here far overshadows his lyrical output.  Not to disrespect his lyrics, but his fingerpicking is so precise and pleasant sounding that it lulls you into this world that recalls classical folk but brings it to the present day.  I often found myself entranced by the guitar sound, which feels like a middle ground between lo-fi and professional.  His vocal style also adds to the strength of the album; he melodically moves with his playing, much like Joanna Newsom does on her records.  He plays and sings so effortlessly it is as if he has become one with the music.  In keeping with the music, the lyrics tend to be descriptive and whimsical.

I’m glad I bought this record on a whim.  Not all records on my list are ones I would consider owning, so buying this without hearing it was risky from a money standpoint.  However, I was drawn by his playing and vocals, and I found the record to be very accessible.  I love the first four tracks, “Tit Smoking in the Temple of Artesan Mimicry”, and “Todos los Delores.”