PRESS
-
Devendra Banhart, Nino Rojo
()
Big Takeover Magazine, Issue #55 | by Jack RabidDevendra’s visions are full of fancy and fantasyThis is the companion CD to Rejoicing in the Hands which was reviewed in the last issue and was recorded at the same sessions. There isn’t much difference other than there are a few more orchestrated tunes, a cover of a song by Ella Jenkins and inclusion of a trippy video. This is folk music from a determined optimist, who finds and transmits beauty in new ways while connected to the rock continuum by a voice that echoes the pre T-Rex vocals of Marc Bolan. Poet John Keats said "If something is not beautiful, it is probably not true", and while Devendra’s visions are full of fancy and fantasy, these simple sincere songs seem to drip from his lips without pretension or having to drag dirt from life’s gutter to have his words seem authentic....
-
Making it big underground - artists who haven't sold out yet
()
Standford Daily | by Bonnie JohnsonDevendra BanhartFormerly an art student in San Francisco, Devendra Banhart is perfect in his role as the new darling of the acoustic lo-fi scene. His eccentric, pared-down folk style makes it difficult to tell when he’s being tongue-in-cheek and when he means business (if he ever does), but it’s hard not to love the queries addressed to animals and the finger-picking backed by tambourine. As a companion to spring’s “Rejoicing in the Hands,†Banhart has released “Niño Rojo,†the highlight of which is the love song “At the Hop†(it sounds nothing like whatever you imagine you would hear at the fabled “hopâ€). Banhart performed at this year’s South by Southwest showcase. He is currently on tour in Europe....
-
Devendra Banhart
()
Various PublicationsQuotes‘A shoo-in for indie-folk’s next big thing.’ - Vice ‘Timeless barefoot folk that signals there may be a classic songwriter in our midst.’ - i-D ‘His raw songcraft is terrifyingly effective at communicating the breadth of human emotion…beautiful, damaged, naked and utterly compelling.’ - The Wire ‘A complete one-off, the world would be a poorer place without him.’ - NME ‘It's been awhile since an obsessive, naïve, utterly original musical visionary – a Beck, a Vic Chesnutt – emerged from a private sanctum into the embrace of the rock cognoscenti. But we've got one now.’ – The Los Angeles Times ‘Essentially the only bearded eccentric you’re likely to need.’ - The Guardian ‘One of the more original new voices to emerge lately.’ - The Times ‘Something quite magical.’ - The Independent ‘Banhart’s cryptic lyrics are enthralling.’ - Evening Standard ‘It’s brittle, enchanting and scissor sharp.’ - Time Out ‘Banhart sounds like a feral man-boy-man: his compositions, plucked out on a battered acoustic, are minimal, sing-song affairs of magic-realist proportions.’ - The Observer ‘Utterly brilliant and original.’ - Rave ‘The most romantic figure to rise from the American underground since Cat Power.’ - The Melbourne Age ‘A prodigious new talent.’......
-
Devendra Banhart, Nino Rojo
()
Big Takeover Magazine, Issue #55 | by Jack RabidDevendra’s visions are full of fancy and fantasyThis is the companion CD to Rejoicing in the Hands which was reviewed in the last issue and was recorded at the same sessions. There isn’t much difference other than there are a few more orchestrated tunes, a cover of a song by Ella Jenkins and inclusion of a trippy video. This is folk music from a determined optimist, who finds and transmits beauty in new ways while connected to the rock continuum by a voice that echoes the pre T-Rex vocals of Marc Bolan. Poet John Keats said "If something is not beautiful, it is probably not true", and while Devendra’s visions are full of fancy and fantasy, these simple sincere songs seem to drip from his lips without pretension or having to drag dirt from life’s gutter to have his words seem authentic....
-
Devendra Banhart: Niño Rojo
()
Stop Smiling | by Dustin DraseThis is elegant music for time spent with the windows wide open on a cool, fall afternoon.While the current crop of young artists is copping their looks and musical chops from late 70s and early 80s post-punk, there are still a few holdouts that subscribe to a different era and agenda. And so, we enter the bohemian revelry of the freak-folkies; a rag tag group of nouveau earthen-flower children with throwbacks to unknown and underappreciated singers like Vashti Bunyan, and Linda Perhacs. Like a bearded pied-piper, Devendra Banhart champions overlooked musicians of the past, while wholeheartedly embracing a new regime of like-minded individuals, including Joanna Newsom, Espers, Vetiver, Josephine Foster, and CocoRosie (Nino Rojo’s "Be Kind" is dedicated CocoRosie’s Bianca Casady.) Musically, Banhart is a mesmerizing blend of 60s troubadour-folkies and Greenwich Village cool, his voice lilting majestic over elaborate, finger-picked guitar rhythms. Devendra’s thoughts are both backward and forward-conscious; at the same time, his music is completely timeless. Comparisons have been made to Marc Bolan, Nick Drake, and Donovan, but Devendra’s style is most evidently influenced by the likes of female singers such as Billie Holiday, Karen Dalton and Ella Jenkins; Banhart chose a......