Devendra Banhart – An acquired taste

 

Opening a Devendra Banhart CD comes with mixed emotions; on the one hand, I’m sure I’ll eventually love it… on the other hand, I know I’ll initially be completely thrown by the weirdness of it all. For this reason, I purposefully held back on the mini review of the new album, “What will be” until it sunk in.

The album was co-produced by Banhart and Paul Butler from “A Band of Bees” – and at first listen, the thing that struck me was the heightened sense of production value in comparison to past albums. While Banhart is no stranger to including a wide range of instruments and vocals in his music, they’ve never quite sounded so clear and polished. But staying true to his peculiar style, there are still those elements of deconstruction and musical tangents that feel improvised throughout this record.

I’ll take a leap and guess that a lot of this record was recorded live with all musicians playing at the same time, instead of track by track like most other music. For this suspicion alone, I recommend checking out the album. But be warned: it’s an acquired taste.

The following are a few videos from a live performance on a show called Later with Jules Holland.

BABY

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16th & Valencia, Roxy Music