PRESS
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MICHAEL GIRA+DEVENDRA BANHART
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Village Voice | by D. Shawn BoslerCB's Gallery, at 7 Banhart is Gira's newest signee to Young God Records, and he's an excellent find. Creepy, minimal, British-folk-influenced tunes that, no matter how normal the subject matter (which it usually isn't), comes across as scary chidren's fairy tales—like the soundtrack to Struwwelpeter performed by Marc Bolan (the folk years) and Nick Drake. Gira's orchestrated Americana-pop group, Angels of Light, is the Cain to American Music Club's Abel; solo, he's just as intense and marked, just more minimal....
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Devendra Banhart | OH ME OH MY... | Review
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splendidzine.com | Justin Kownackiseductively invites the listener to get under his skinWhen you use only two instruments, one of them needs to be extremely noteworthy -- and in Banhart's case, his legend is and will be his voice. He seductively invites the listener to get under his skin, despite decreeing that we can never know him intimately, not more than he wants us to: this is the effect of Oh Me Oh My..., an album whose title is actually a poem similar to Fiona Apple's When the Pawn, but shorter and less surreal. Calculating, revealing just enough of himself to appear interesting -- even familiar -- without divulging enough to destroy the all-important enigma of a compulsive personality, Banhart creates his persona even as he pretends to deconstruct it. Sure, he'll allow us a glimpse into his head through clever turns of phrase and the occasional soul-rattling note (see the banshee effect of "Nice People"), but it's all an elaborate facade designed to engender a closeness that isn't there. By stripping away the conventions that reside in the delicate space between singer and listener, Banhart has naturally constructed new devices previously unconsidered, unnecessary, by slipping his voice into costume. Coy,......
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Oh Me Oh My... | Devendra Banhart | Review
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pittsburghpulp.com | Ben Hernstromawkward, otherworldly...Michael Gira, center piece of the now-defunct, experimental legends - Swans, and owner/operator of Young God Records, described his newest acquisition -Devendra Banhart - as “ridiculously compellingâ€, and “completely uniqueâ€. And after spending a good bit of time listening to the release, its clear he wasn't mistaken. Absurdly titled “Oh Me Oh My The Way The Day Goes By The Sun Is Setting Dogs Are Dreaming Songs Of The Christmas Spiritâ€, the disc is a combination of awkward, otherworldly lyrics sung in a shaky falsetto, and finger-picked acoustic guitar. While the music is certainly good on many levels, the thing that makes it worth looking into is its intensely unnerving quality. This under-your-skin element stems from lyrics like “Do you love him? Does he love you, too - like I love you? I know nature is beside me when he’s inside you. I feel it, too.†Lyrics like these and the eloquent melodies that support them form a kind of fear-inducing innocence. There's a very clear and readable honesty to the material- a truly rare occurrence in today's industry of overproduction and suit created musics. Even the recording process used to produce the album seems tailored......
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Devendra Banhart, Oh Me Oh My...
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www.grossoutart.com He has the ability to create an entire world for the listener to inhabitDevendra Banhart confirms for me the idea that there can be as many unique singer/songwriters as there can be unique people. His idiosyncratic voice is magnified by a doubling technique that sounds like he recorded all the vocals twice and then mixed both versions together. His unusual tenor fits into the sound popularized by the Elephant 6 crew, Modest Mouse, Built to Spill, etc; however, his delivery, despite its modernity, still comes across as being more timeless than any of the previously mentioned singers. His finger picking style is generally calm, but has a haunting, demented quality to it, mysterious enough to insure his guitar will one day take on the creepy mythos of an old ouija board. Rather than focus on his performance, he seems to concentrate more on the content of the songs themselves, singing them all as if they were uncollected folk standards. Indeed, Bernhart will likely appeal to the modern-day Harry Smiths of the record collecting world. With incredibly evocative lyrics, Bernhart marks himself as a poet before a musician; the metaphors he employs are both specific and spacious, clever yet hollow.......
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Davendra Banhart | Oh Me Oh My | Review
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grossoutart.comBernhart marks himself as a poet before a musicianwww.grossoutart.com - October 18 Devendra Banhart confirms for me the idea that there can be as many unique singer/songwriters as there can be unique people. His idiosyncratic voice is magnified by a doubling technique that sounds like he recorded all the vocals twice and then mixed both versions together. His unusual tenor fits into the sound popularized by the Elephant 6 crew, Modest Mouse, Built to Spill, etc; however, his delivery, despite its modernity, still comes across as being more timeless than any of the previously mentioned singers. His finger picking style is generally calm, but has a haunting, demented quality to it, mysterious enough to insure his guitar will one day take on the creepy mythos of an old ouija board. Rather than focus on his performance, he seems to concentrate more on the content of the songs themselves, singing them all as if they were uncollected folk standards. Indeed, Bernhart will likely appeal to the modern-day Harry Smiths of the record collecting world. With incredibly evocative lyrics, Bernhart marks himself as a poet before a musician; the metaphors he employs are both specific and spacious, clever yet hollow. While the......