PRESS
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Devendra Banhart, Nino Rojo
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MojoQuoteNino Rojo is no mere best-of-the-rest affair, but a sibling piece of equal intimacy and inspiration. [Oct 2004, p.102]...
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Devendra Banhart | Nino Rojo
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Philadelphia Inquirer | by Steve KlingeSurreal lyrics about animals and insectsDevendra Banhart, the young Texan with the penchant for surreal lyrics about animals and insects, heads the so-called freak-folk movement that includes harpist Joanna Newsom and Philly's Espers. Although his music shares the homemade, untutored unconventionality of folk art, he's schooled enough to cover octogenarian Ella Jenkins' "Wake Up, Little Sparrow" to open his third album, Nino Rojo. He also coaxed obscure British folkie Vashti Banyan to sing on Rejoicing in the Hands, the Nino companion album from earlier this year. Banhart, who likes to warble atop haunting, finger-picked acoustic guitar figures, can be captivating, especially when he fleshes out "We All Know" and "Be Kind" with swinging horns and joyful sing-along choruses. But he can also be frustratingly and willfully obscure, singing lists of non sequiturs or impenetrable streams of consciousness in brief ditties....
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Interview with Devendra Banhart
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Jaded Times | by Sarah StedmanDevendra Banhart's new album, Niño Rojo, was recently released by Young God RecordsDevendra Banhart is one enigmatic dude. Officially, he is a folk singer who has just released his second full-length record entitled Rejoicing in the Hands of the Golden Empress, the studio-recorded follow-up to an album laid down at home and a European EP with The Black Babies. Unofficially, the talk about Banhart sounds more like folklore. In preparation for this interview, I asked my friends what they had heard about him that intrigued them and the responses varied from, "I heard he is a squatter", to "I think he only plays atop tables without shoes", to "I saw him curled up on a park bench once", to "He is so nice!" Needless to say, I had no idea what to expect and was more than slightly nervous when I knocked on the back door of Berbati's Pan on the evening of June 4th. So here it is: my slightly awkward, but thoroughly enjoyable, chat with Young Gods recording artist Devendra Banhart. SARAH STEDMAN: So what is your favorite kind of muffin? DEVENDRA BANHART: Poppy seed. SS: Do you like to bake poppy seed......
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Interview with Devendra Banhart
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Jaded Times | by Sarah StedmanDevendra Banhart's new album, Niño Rojo, was recently released by Young God RecordsDevendra Banhart is one enigmatic dude. Officially, he is a folk singer who has just released his second full-length record entitled Rejoicing in the Hands of the Golden Empress, the studio-recorded follow-up to an album laid down at home and a European EP with The Black Babies. Unofficially, the talk about Banhart sounds more like folklore. In preparation for this interview, I asked my friends what they had heard about him that intrigued them and the responses varied from, "I heard he is a squatter", to "I think he only plays atop tables without shoes", to "I saw him curled up on a park bench once", to "He is so nice!" Needless to say, I had no idea what to expect and was more than slightly nervous when I knocked on the back door of Berbati's Pan on the evening of June 4th. So here it is: my slightly awkward, but thoroughly enjoyable, chat with Young Gods recording artist Devendra Banhart. SARAH STEDMAN: So what is your favorite kind of muffin? DEVENDRA BANHART: Poppy seed. SS: Do you like to bake poppy seed......
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Devendra Banhart, Nino Rojo
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Soundsxp | by by Matt HA highly mannered hippy vocal his trademarkA strange old prospect, Mr Banhart. Like so many now, stripped bare folk is his mode of expression. A highly mannered hippy vocal his trademark. The style of his songs drifts from the deeply silly cod-kindergarten rhyme (Little Yellow Spider) to those with a more successful old fashioned blusey edge (An Island, Be Kind, Owl Eyes). If it weren't for the vocal a number of these latter could almost have been culled from some obscure 1920s American Folkways release (though it's worth noting that the best by some way, opener Wake Up Little Sparrow, is in fact a cover version). Ultimately though the voice wears you down over the length of an album. Where others with an idiosyncratic style (Will Oldham, Jim O'Rourke) gradually endear, Banhart moves from fun to kooky. So much that, before you get to the end, you wouldn't be surprised to hear him burst into a chorus of "Smelly Cat". Which is a shame, because when you do get to the last song - the uplifting drunken singalong of Electric Heart with its tipsy trumpet - you find that there is something to Mr Banhart......