PRESS
REJOICING IN THE HANDS
BBC | by Matt Walton
Vinyl review (XL)
The simplest things are often the most beautiful. Take the first LP from 23-year-old wandering minstrel Devendra Banhart, for example. A man with a cracked, haunting voice, hunched over what you suspect to be a battered guitar, singing folky, blues-stained melodies. Recorded by Lynn Bridges (who worked with Bob Dylan), Rejoicing In The Hands features only a limited number of other musical noises and vintage production, and that makes it all the more powerful. Occasionally whimsical, intermittently heartbroken, sometimes even daft, it’s always honest, sincere and devoid of pretence. Joyous.