Devendra Banhart - What Will We Be?

Allegedly our freak-folk super star who can write songs about marrying little boys, becoming a seahorse, having Chinese children and Korean dog food, pretty much enjoyed his last year’s surf-friendly collaboration on Megapuss. Surf-friendly I said, this may seem pretty reasonable for Devendra Banhart’s new album to be signed with Brushfire Records in which Jack Johnson and Mason Jennings inhabit. Not surprisingly enough, the weirdo steps a bit further and comes to a proper writ with who? Warner Bros.

Our bearded four-track songmeister whose effortless songwriting methods seemed odd enough for us to listen to, and therefore we played them over and over, is not a stranger to departures. His 2007’s Smokey Rolls Downs the Thunder Canyon encountered a full playing live band and so it was no more about minimal unfinished off-the-wall lullabies played without a care.

Now that the burden is a bit heavier, on Devendra’s 6th full-length What Will We Be? he is not making risks anymore. The result is a blend of the last two efforts. Tracks like the Hawaiian palm-tree cocktail of “Baby” resemble Megapuss while “First Song For B” and “Last Song For B” remind us of Smokey. And even if that’s not enough you also hear him step outside his own freak-folk boundaries on slow-burner jazzy songs like “Chin Chin & Muck Muck” or rock ‘n roll moments as seen in “Rats”. He even doesn’t mind writing a song like “16th & Valencia Roxy Music” that is more Franz Ferdinand than anything related to Roxy Music. The most fun moments on What Will We Be? are the multi-section nature of tracks a la “Angelika” that can compel us to think the album has more than 14 songs.

Devendra Banhart’s bandmates on the record include the drummer Greg Rogove (from Megapuss) and also Noah Georgeson, bassist Luckey Remington and guitarist Rodrigo Amarante and they have decided to sound entertaining and travel-friendly on their first experience with a major label. However, fans of early recordings of Banhart such as 2004’s Rejoicing In the Hands or Niño Rojo may find pleasure in songs like “Brindo” and “Meet Me At Lookout Point”.

[mp3] Devendra Banhart “16th & Valencia Roxy Music”

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