I wonder if Devendra Banhart is just too damn happy to make another record to match the brilliance of 2004’s ‘Rejoicing In The Hands …..’ , an album which IMHO still stands as his masterpiece.
Banhart has always been the personification of a red rag for bullish hippy bashers. Consequently, the backlash against his freaky brand of folk has been substantial. Added to this are the insidious snipes over his high-profile dalliance with Natalie Portman and ,now, comes his switch from the hallowed Indie ranks of XL Recordings to the major label Reprise Records of Warners Music Group (boo! hiss!).
Verily, not the actions of a back to basics treehugger. Continue reading
It’s a fair bet that any solo acoustic guitarist on the indie/underground circuit will at some time or other be compared to John Fahey. Montreal based Harris Newman made the perceptive comment that since Fahey experimented with so many different styles and “did everything at one time or another”, anybody who plays instrumental guitar could conceivably be compared is him.
