PRESS
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REJOICING IN THE HANDS
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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....
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DEVENDRA BANHART/VETIVER
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New York Press | by A.D. AmorosiShow previewThe skippy on Devendra Banhart was this; back in 2002, creepy crawly singer/songwriter Devendra – 19 years old – hums, strums and bums his minute-long minuets onto warped cassettes from cheaper recorders. This isn't the newest notion, mind you. Certainly wack jobs like Wild Man Fischer and Daniel Johnston have done the same in their time. Like them, Banhart seems a mad hatter. Unlike them, there's a brutal beauty – even an elegant elegiac quality to his quaking, cracked actorish voice and crude, eccentric lyricism to match a meeting of, say, Nick Drake to pre-Ziggy Bowie. Good stuff. Swans boss and Young God Records founder Michael Gira allows – DAMN it. HE WANTS IT – a first CD, Oh My Oh My The Way The Day Goes By The Sun Is Setting Dogs Are Dreaming Lovesongs of The Christmas Spirit to come out as-is. The unmastered masterpiece is a sassy, happy mass of messy paranoia, horrific high-pitched vocals and creaking ambience, sounding as if it could have been recorded in a pine box in the middle of a Daguerreotype, literally and figuratively. Fast forward to the present: Banhart and new producer Gira record......
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Devendra Banhart, Vetiver, Joanna Newsom
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Washington City Paper | by David Dunlap Jr.show previewTwo years ago, Devendra Banhart was a vagabond minstrel who couldn't get arrested for vagrancy. Since then, the bopping elf has become the New Weird America poster boy, enjoying the celebrity acceleration of a former reality-show contestant. In fact, he has become such a critical darling that he now has enough credibility to share with his friends: We've had CocoRosie (one of whom was rumored to be amorously linked with DB), and Entrance (tourmates), and now we are presented with the latest Frienda Devendra, Vetiver. Banhart is a member of Vetiver, but the group is primarily a vehicle for Andy Cabic's considerable songwriting skills. In addition to Banhart's involvement (guitar and backup vocals), there are contributions from Mazzy Star's Hope Sandoval and her frequent collaborator, My Bloody Valentine's Colm O'Ciosoig. Though there are more celebrity appearances on this self-titled disc than courtside at a Lakers game, it's still Cabic's show....
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Psych major
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Time Out NY, June 17-24, 2004 | by Sara MarcusDevendra Banhart’s ecstatic folk music is a trip that’s worth takingDevendra Banhart’s latest album, Rejoicing in the Hands, kicks off with a seemingly simple ditty called “This Is the Way.†The singsong tune’s lyrics resemble a nursery rhyme: “This is my beard I’m always growing… This is the way I share my breakfast.†But then, just as the song is about to end, there comes a line that could double as Banhart’s mission satement: “We’ve known we had a choice,†he sings, his voice full of quiet wonder. “We chose rejoice.†That message of guileless celebration is at the heart of Banhart’s music, which has made him perhaps the most significant - and easily the most colorful - figure in the burgeoning psychedelic-folk scene (one that includes the Animal Collective, Six Organs of Admittance and P.G. Six, among many others). Through often surreal imagery, he conveys a credible, contagious ecstasy that comes across in this live shows and his recordings alike. On Rejoicing, this spirit reaches its manic apogee in the jaunty “This Beard Is for Siobhan, “which ends with Banhart singing of taking his teeth dancing and showing them a......
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Psych major
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Time Out NY, June 17-24, 2004 | by Sara MarcusDevendra Banhart’s ecstatic folk music is a trip that’s worth takingDevendra Banhart’s latest album, Rejoicing in the Hands, kicks off with a seemingly simple ditty called “This Is the Way.†The singsong tune’s lyrics resemble a nursery rhyme: “This is my beard I’m always growing… This is the way I share my breakfast.†But then, just as the song is about to end, there comes a line that could double as Banhart’s mission satement: “We’ve known we had a choice,†he sings, his voice full of quiet wonder. “We chose rejoice.†That message of guileless celebration is at the heart of Banhart’s music, which has made him perhaps the most significant - and easily the most colorful - figure in the burgeoning psychedelic-folk scene (one that includes the Animal Collective, Six Organs of Admittance and P.G. Six, among many others). Through often surreal imagery, he conveys a credible, contagious ecstasy that comes across in this live shows and his recordings alike. On Rejoicing, this spirit reaches its manic apogee in the jaunty “This Beard Is for Siobhan, “which ends with Banhart singing of taking his teeth dancing and showing them a......