As any fan of the late Wesley Willis can attest, some of America's top musical talent can be found wandering the streets, nestled among our nation's homeless.
Devendra Banhart was discovered on the streets, but he is no longer just another drifter with a guitar. ?Cripple Crow? combines his skills as a polished songwriter with his raw vocal talent and creates a thoroughly bizarre but lovable album.
"Cripple Crow" is an exercise in variety. Tracks jump from soft whispering lullabies to foot-thumping drum and bass ballads (try "Queen Bee" and the following track "I Feel Just Like a Child"). Banhart sounds out of place in neither style. He also proves adept at switching languages, moving from English to Spanish effortlessly.
"Cripple Crow" has one undeniable asset in Banhart's terrific vocals. He has a particular way of holding syllables, emitting warble effect that is disarming in the more mellow songs and powerful in the more upbeat songs.
On "Some People Ride the Wave" this effect creates a cheerful tune reminiscent of a twist on "Don't Worry, Be Happy."
Banhart sometimes sings, such as on "I Heard Somebody Say," with more of a whisper than a voice. It's a shame the singer, with such an impressive vocal range, minimizes his voice.
The almost random switches in tone, however, are something not every listener will love. The album lacks a continuous cohesive voice ? at times it seems that the CD player is on shuffle.
Taking issue with the pacing, however, seems moot: each song sounds good within the tempo and mood it creates.
Banhart's lyrics also jump around haphazardly, from the pedestrian to the psychedelic and occasionally into the weird. Many songs take on the kind of blissful nonchalance of "Lazy Butterfly," where one may get the impression Banhart is lying in the grass somewhere, singing about the world going by: "Purple hummingbird in the meadow / Suckling at the flow of its shadow."
A few songs take on a mildly anti-war message, most notably "Heard Somebody Say," with the lyrics, "Heard somebody say that the war ended today / But everybody knows its going still." This leads to the climax of the song: "It's simple, we don't want to kill." While Americans will assume the reference to our present overseas engagements, Banhart deftly avoids mentioning any conflict by name. It creates a more timeless message not necessarily specific to current events.
"Little Boys" is one of the catchiest, and perhaps most disturbing songs on the album, with its refrain of "I see so many little boys I want to marry." As if the implication is not fully understood, Banhart continues, "Oh little Billy, little Timmy, little Jimmy, you?re the one / I may not look it, but I swear my heart is young." The words are set to a melody right out of a 50s sock hop.
"Cripple Crow" is a series of songs that centers on Devendra Banhart's voice rather than any permeating theme, style or tempo. Banhart, however, is a talented singer so even with tracks stylistically all over the map, the album as a whole sounds great.
