Devendra Banhart surprised fans last year when he signed with major label Warner Bros. Given that he began his recording career by playing into a tape player in his bathroom (natural reverb?), fans were anxious to see how a major label backing would affect their freak-folk darling. Thankfully, Banhart's newest album, "What Will We Be," released in October, is not devoid of the weird charm that dedicated fans have come to love. Recording with A Band of Bees, the same backing band from his last release, "Smokey Rolls Down Thunder Canyon" (2007), Banhart creates an LP with a depth that he hasn't reached with previous projects.
The album starts off with "Can't Help But Smiling," a breezy collection of shakers, dripping piano, guitar strumming and Banhart's soothing drawl. It's nothing special, but it would certainly go well with a hammock and a cold one. The track harkens back to his older work, but it isn't until "Angelika" that listeners get their first real taste of what's to come on the album. Making all the right stops for a chilled-out stoner-acoustic jam, "Angelika" starts with the standard Banhart guitar noodling that fans will be used to, but soon reveals a split-personality in its tropicalia-esque and sashaying second movement. True to his Venezuelan upbringing, Banhart croons in Spanish for the second half of the track.
Standout track "Chin Chin & Muck Muck" is another two-faced beauty. It starts with a lounge piano and brushy drum section but is soon replaced with percussion and the folky guitar picking similarly found on "Can't Help But Smiling." Banhart exhibits some of his ethereal writing on this track, with lyrics like "I'm gonna braid exotic birds in your hair," or "All my thoughts are hairs on a wild boar running slowly down the lilac slopes." For Banhart listeners, the true spirit of his work shines through the beautiful oddity of his lyrics, of which he delivers a lethal dose here.
"16th and Valencia, Roxy Music" is a departure from the previous tracks but is a welcome surprise. With an unexpectedly danceable darkness, this prog-groove is dipped in Latin rhythm and sleek hooks. Banhart croons, "I know I look high but I'm just free dancing" over slouching guitar tremolo. A jarring change from the path of the album up to this point? Yes. A welcomed detour? Oh, yes.
The album closes out with "Foolin'," a song you might hear in the background of a love scene between Paul McCartney and Bob Marley. Light-hearted lyrics showered in '60s garage harmonies give the track a light shore-line drive groove and give the album a nice circular shape, coming back around to same sandy ease found in the opening track.
Overall, the album is a deeper musical exploration than Banhart has attempted. Spending brief moments down side-streets of jazz, reggae and prog/alt rock, while still making plenty of passes through the familiar folk cul-de-sacs of previous albums, "What We Will Be" offers more sonic diversity than any of his previous releases. However, it is missing a gem of the wonderfully weird, such as "Shabop Shalom" off of "Smokey Rolls Down Thunder Canyon" or "Little Yellow Spider" on "Nino Rojo" (2004). What it lacks in a single golden sultan, though, it makes up for in the depth and breadth of exploration.
An added piece to this, and all Banhart releases, is the artwork that is included. Banhart, who produces all the art himself, says the drawings are meant to supplement the music. The included artwork allows listeners to really get inside the head of this bearded poet and attempt to follow the streams and rivulets of his Technicolor stream of consciousness. Whether one is a first time listener to Devendra Banhart, or just wants to expand the playlist that goes on around half past four, pick up "What We Will Be" and prepare to be delighted.
