Devendra Banhart - Rejoicing In The Hands Of The Golden Empress

[Psychocandy]

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I throw my hands up and admit that i'm almost at a loss for words. This is the sort of music that comes so close to defying easy clasification that it almost renders the effort taken to pigeonhole it utterly redundant...thoroughly pointless. I'd say the closest reference point is folk but there's far more going on here. There are so many different moods present on this, the third album by Devendra Banhart. The spirits of the Appalachian mountains haunt many of these songs. I honestly don't have the knowledge to detail all of the reference points contained herein. All I know is that I like it. A lot.

http://www.younggodrecords.com/images/artists/Davendra/DevendraHenwoodMarq.jpg

My introduction to Devendra Banhart occurred two weeks ago when he performed the second song on this album, It's A Sight To Behold, on Later...With Jools Holland (a frequently brilliant live showcase that airs on BBC2 in the UK). The effect was magical. The camera spun away from presenter Jools Holland to settle upon a strange figure of a man sat alone and cross legged on the floor, wearing a red cloak covered with gilded patterns and surrounded by burning candles. I chuckled at his odd choice of apparel and the nest of hair that formed his beard. He looked more like a cult leader than a singer songwriter. Then he strummed his guitar, opened his mouth and sang. I was transfixed. It was as if he had been transported somehow from another age. I immediately set about getting a hold of his album. It took about a week but I eventually tracked down an import copy in my local record store of choice...Avalanche in Glasgow. This really is something very special indeed. I've only listened to it about half a dozen times and I think i'm only scratching the dust that's settled on the surface of these songs. I'm not impatient. I think i'm going to be living with these songs for a while. Highly recommended. 5/5

Bowieee, BCV, R&J....seriously...check this guy out.

[Psychocandy]

Here's a much better description straight from his US label's website...

2 years ago I first heard the crude home made recordings of Devendra Banhart, then a homeless, wandering, neo psych/folk hippie artist and musician, not yet 21 years old. We released these recordings on YGR because we'd never heard anything quite like them, ever. His voice - a quivering high-tension wire, sounded like it could have been recorded 70 years ago - these songs could have been sitting in someone's attic, left there since the 1930's. The response was astounding . Devendra soon moved here to NYC (from SF), where he lived in squats, couch-surfed, and finally found himself a home (very recently), suddenly riding a tidal wave of press acclaim, 3 or 4 US tours, tours in Europe, a special feature on NPR (for God's sake) – in short, a seismic shift in his fortunes. He's the most genuine, least cynical and calculated artist I've ever known, and he deserves every bit of the good things now coming his way. He's also one of the most innately talented, magical performers I have ever heard. Period. He GIVES. This kind of generosity and breadth of emotion is all too rare these days. Whether the songs are pained, twisted, whimsical, or even sometimes weirdly silly, aside from being fantastically musical and expertly played, they are also utterly sincere, and devoid of a single drop of post modern irony. In short, he's the real thing.

When it came time to record new music we were of course faced with the quandary of how to go about it – does he continue making hiss-saturated home recordings, or do we go into a “professional” studio? We mutually decided that it was best to move on – why should he be ghetto-ized as a possible low-fi crank/eccentric? Besides, his songwriting and his guitar playing (in my opinion) have taken such leaps and bounds forward, that we were compelled to record them in a way that made it possible to really hear the performances clearly. Out of nowhere, the perfect situation arose. Lynn Bridges, who works with Jimmy Johnson (of Mussel Shoals fame – Bob Dylan, The Band etc etc…) contacted us and invited us down to his house on the Alabama/Georgia border, where we recorded 32 songs (culled from something like 57 Devendra had initially submitted!) in his living room, using the best possible vintage gear. Ideal. Devendra sat on his stool in that living room for 10 days, 12 hours a day, and played, constantly. We set up a mic for his voice, a few on his guitar, and one or two in the room (an old, Georgia-style southern house with tall ceilings, wood floors etc.), and that's what you hear, for the most part, on these recordings (along with the occasional chorus of cicadas, when we happened to be recording at night, with the windows open). Then, we took these recordings to NYC and added a few overdubs here and there, played by a host of musicians (The song Rejoicing in the Hands features a tender duet with the legendary 60's English Pop Singer gamin (and one of Devendra's idols) Vashti Bunyan)...Deciding on the final arrangements was ridiculously easy – the songs were so good in their raw state that there was no need to bolster them with sonic fluff or cheap impact. So, there's a few sounds entering and leaving at will here and there, but hopefully they simply set a context. The important thing is always Devendra's performance, and his uncanny ability to transport us, through story/words, and some pretty amazing finger-pickin' (!), just using his acoustic guitar and voice. I consider him to be an antidote, maybe even a sort of narcotic - that rare case where you feel like you're coming home when you listen to a piece of music…

- Michael Gira / Young God Records

[Psychocandy]

And here's the bio...

DEVENDRA BANHART BIO INFO (using excerpts from SF Weekly lead ARTS article)

Man of La Mantra /The psychedelic folk of wandering minstrel Devendra Banhart /By Garrett Kamps/SF WEEKLY/Jan 08.2003

“…Banhart was born in Texas in 1981, and named by an Indian mystic whom his parents followed. When his folks divorced two years later, he moved with his mom to Caracas , Venezuela , where he was raised amidst the shanties and sweatshops. Though his family had enough money to stay above the poverty line, life wasn't easy.

" Venezuela was insane," says Banhart. "You don't go out after 8 because it's too dangerous. You don't wear nice sneakers because, while here you may get assaulted, there you just get killed."

When Banhart's mother remarried, his stepfather moved the family to Los Angeles . In the fall of 1998, having written songs since he was 12, Banhart left home to begin school at the San Francisco Art Institute, with a hefty scholarship. Though he was instantly disillusioned with the constraints of academic art, his environs took him in more productive directions.

Living in the lower Castro, he was tapped by his roommates -- a gay couple whom Banhart refers to as "Bob the Crippled Comic and Jerry Elvis" -- to play two classic songs at their wedding: the gospel hymn "How Great Thou Art" and Elvis Presley's "Love Me Tender." Touched by the request, Banhart found himself newly inspired.

Shortly thereafter, he had a second epiphany. While vacationing in Bish Bash Falls , a state park in Massachusetts , Banhart and his girlfriend were quarreling about the Rolling Stones.

"The argument was about [the song] 'Street Fighting Man,'" he says. "And I'm like, 'That's bullshit. Mick Jagger wasn't fighting nobody.' And she was like, 'Well, how do you know? Maybe they just made it up.' And I was like, 'Well, I can make up a song about something!' And it turned out to be this little song ..."

Banhart proceeds to sing, limerick-style: "There once was a man who really loved salt/ So he tied his nose to the sea/ And then God came down from his silver throne/ And said, 'Honey, that water ain't free.'"

"That's when I realized I could write about anything I wanted," he adds casually. "It was like being constipated and then taking a suppository."

Thus began Banhart's days as a wandering minstrel. When he returned to San Francisco , he began playing anywhere that would have him, be it an Ethiopian restaurant, an Irish pub, or Du Nord's weekly "Monday Night Hoot."

"We had to pretend like he was just helping us with equipment and then sneak him in," says Eric Shea, host of the "Hoot." "He was too young to get into the club."

In the summer of 2000, Banhart dropped out of art school and moved to Paris . There, he was discovered by the owner of a small club, who chose him to open shows for indie rock bands. All the while he was recording songs, both on a borrowed four-track and on a friend's answering machine.

Moving back to the United States in the fall, Banhart bounced between San Francisco and Los Angeles . At a gig at the Fold in L.A. , Banhart was doing a sound check when Siobhan Duffy overheard his set. A lover of old bluegrass and folk music, Duffy is also a close personal friend of Michael Gira, the one-time frontman for New York gloom-rock legends Swans and current owner of Young God Records.

"She couldn't believe it," says Gira of Duffy's reaction. "So [Banhart] gave her a CD-R, and I listened to it and had the same response. His voice is so unique, his songwriting is just amazing…"

[bowieee]

I'll be checking this out..... Looks right up my mountain trail.

[Psychocandy]

Originally posted by bowieee
I'll be checking this out..... Looks right up my mountain trail.

With regards to my attempts to pigeonhole the dude...

Imagine if Chan from Cat Power, Will Oldham and the dude from Iron & Wine had a ten hour three way shagfest then a month later poor Chan found out she was preggers. Eight months later the poor lass would give painful birth to a fully grown Devendra (beard and all). That's where he's at. Yup!!!

[bowieee]

Well I picked up this cd tonight before I saw coffee and cigarettes and from what I've heard of it so far it's quite unique. I haven't been able to dive all the way into it yet but I'll be back later with a full review when I have but what I heard so far really interested me.

The lady who rung me up seemed really excited about the album, she said it was a really nice album and that I was going to enjoy it. I'll be back with more thoughts after a few go arounds.

[bowieee]

Well this album just hit me like a speeding train. I was driving along listening to the lyrics and slowly it started to pull me in to it's surreal stories and beautiful obscurity. I'm really starting to like this album alot. I don't think I've ever heard anyone quite like him when it comes to writing lyrics. He has a tender voice that really goes well with his songs. Thanks psychocandy this guy is going to become a favorite!

[Psychocandy]

Originally posted by bowieee
Well this album just hit me like a speeding train. I was driving along listening to the lyrics and slowly it started to pull me in to it's surreal stories and beautiful obscurity. I'm really starting to like this album alot. I don't think I've ever heard anyone quite like him when it comes to writing lyrics. He has a tender voice that really goes well with his songs. Thanks psychocandy this guy is going to become a favorite!

Thought you would like him. I really need to get a hold of his earlier releases...seemingly they are like gold dust though. Bugger!!! You really should have seen him on the Jools Holland show the other week though. Christ!!! Yes...exactly.

[BadCoverVersion]

This bloke sounds pretty bloody interesting I must admit.

Colour me VERY CURIOUS indeed.

Your recommendations are always top-notch Psycho...so I'll definitely do my best to seek this guy out.

[Psychocandy]

Originally posted by BadCoverVersion
Your recommendations are always top-notch Psycho...

This'll be a pre-Secret Machines post then.

[Romero&Juliet]

wow, I cant believe Michael Gira isn't DEAD yet~! (Psycho, you were a Swans fan back in the day, right?)..

I read a profile on this guy a little while ago, whihc never mentioned a THING about him being on Young God and its sounds like really quirky stuff. I'll check it out if I ever see it for sale in this neck of the woods.