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Thoughts on Devendra Banhart's Smokey Rolls Down Thunder Canyon

by tony herrman

One Friday afternoon a little while back, as I finished up work for the week at the small Nebraska daily for which I'm a reporter, I listened basically non-stop to Devendra Banhart's new song "Carmencita." I first heard it earlier that day listening on-line to Seattle radio station KEXP. After that I listened repeatedly by way of Banhart’s myspace page. I have no idea what the lyrics — rapped, in Spanish — are saying. Banhart may appear to be just a honky with an exotic name; he was in fact raised in Venezuela. “Carmencita” has a contagious groove. If the Blues Brothers had been shifty gypsies instead of shifty Chicago bluesmen, they would’ve whipped the audience into a frenzy and made their getaway at that final auditorium to "Carmencita."

Prior to that day, I'd known very little about Banhart or this freak folk genre of which he eschews, preferring the term “spiritual boner,” but appears to be the prime example. I knew I liked his contemporary Joanna Newsom because of her ringing, underdeveloped voice and that I was definitely in the minority on that one, but that was about it. I knew Banhart only as the guy who looked like Anne Hathaway with a beard. Then I heard "Carmencita." I’m not sure if it’s the first single on his new album Smokey Rolls Down Thunder Canyon, or even if a guy like Banhart even has singles, but it’s catchy.

Around the time the album was released, Sept. 25, he put the whole thing on his myspace page. “Carmencita” is still my favorite track, but songs like "Samba Vexillographica", with a titles as incomprehensible to non-Spanish speakers as the lyrics of "Carmencita," and “Sea Horse,” a progressive eight-minute sea shanty that sounds suspiciously like The Stranglers’ “Golden Brown”, are close.

Further research brought the realization that Banhart has turned a page with this new album. His earlier popular songs like “Little Yellow Spider” and “This Beard is for Siobhan” tend to be shorter and more simple. Simplicity aside, except when he's wearing Bob Weir shorts or accompanied by interpretive male dancers, Banhart's YouTube videos are pretty f'n' good. His is a voice with a crisp, warming sunshine and tomato soup quality. Even the weirdness adds to his charm.

Addendum: Another current event in music that surprised me was the lack of coverage that the White Stripes received for cancelling their tour. The band announced its decision on its Web site, Sept. 11. Jack and Meg are canceling their tour because "Meg White is suffering from acute anxiety and is unable to travel at this time." As a ticket holder for the band’s Lincoln show, I was obviously distraught. While I definitely don't want Meg to fall into an even rougher patch than she is already, and my Ticketmaster refund really came in handy paying my car insurance, I'm not sure which is more shocking: that a duo who seems to get better and (from what I read) put on more wild and improvised concerts than just about anyone else could have a breakdown like this, or that I basically have heard nothing about it. Then again maybe I'm totally out of the loop, and am the only guy around who doesn't own a Devendra Banhart album.


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