PRESS
-
Davendra Banhart | Oh Me Oh My | Review
()
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......
-
Devendra Banhart | Live | Preview
()
New York Times | ParelesPete's Candy StoreDevendra Barnhart is only 21, but his eerie, wavery voice and stream-of-consciousness songs -- ''the spirit is near, all the trees are dancing, ready to burn'' goes one lyric -- reach back to the childlike surrealism of some of psychedelia's most beloved oddballs, like Marc Bolan (before glam-rock) and Syd Barrett....
-
Devendra Banhart | Live | Preview
()
New York Times | ParelesPete's Candy StoreDevendra Barnhart is only 21, but his eerie, wavery voice and stream-of-consciousness songs -- ''the spirit is near, all the trees are dancing, ready to burn'' goes one lyric -- reach back to the childlike surrealism of some of psychedelia's most beloved oddballs, like Marc Bolan (before glam-rock) and Syd Barrett....
-
Davendra Banhart | Oh Me Oh My | Review
()
erasingclouds.com | Dave Heatonone of the most unique voices you'll hear21 year old singer/songwriter Devendra Banhart has one of the most unique voices you'll hear...that is, one of the weirdest voices, a high but gritty, off-kilter, androgynous, wailing, trembling voice that is beautiful and scary. It's hard to take if you're not in the mood for it - as he'll shake you out of your chair when he really gets going - but absolutely transporting if you're ready for it. He sounds like an interplanetary Billie Holliday singing folk songs.. Filled with surrealism, his bizarre songs present a world filled with mystery, one where it's hard to find solid ground or logic. Even when he sings something as seemingly simple as "You certainly are nice people," he shrieks it in a way that makes you wonder what he really means by it. That multiplicity is part of what makes Oh Me Oh My...so fascinating. Banharts' songs are stunning puzzles, music that'll keep you up at night....
-
Davendra Banhart | Oh Me Oh My | Review
()
erasingclouds.com | Dave Heatonone of the most unique voices you'll hear21 year old singer/songwriter Devendra Banhart has one of the most unique voices you'll hear...that is, one of the weirdest voices, a high but gritty, off-kilter, androgynous, wailing, trembling voice that is beautiful and scary. It's hard to take if you're not in the mood for it - as he'll shake you out of your chair when he really gets going - but absolutely transporting if you're ready for it. He sounds like an interplanetary Billie Holliday singing folk songs.. Filled with surrealism, his bizarre songs present a world filled with mystery, one where it's hard to find solid ground or logic. Even when he sings something as seemingly simple as "You certainly are nice people," he shrieks it in a way that makes you wonder what he really means by it. That multiplicity is part of what makes Oh Me Oh My...so fascinating. Banharts' songs are stunning puzzles, music that'll keep you up at night....