Devendra Banhart is a hippie from San Francisco with a giant beard who just happens to make some excellent folk music. This album's greatest strength is its unpretentiousness--Banhart sings songs about his beard and people he knows and things like that. The melodies are tasteful without being boring (a hard thing to pull off--look at the depressing number of guys-with-a-guitar out there). This thing was produced by scary man and resident gothic genius Michael Gira, and even though this album, tonally, is pretty far from the Swans, it's easy to see what attracted him. Banhart's voice is fantastic, a wild quaver that almost singlehandedly pulls this album to the upper echelon of folk music records. It's tough to mention highlights on such an even record, but my personal favorite is probably "My Beard Is For Siobhan," which gains its power from the inexplicable foot-stomping hoedown Banhart tosses in at the end. A wonderful, subtle, underrated record. My little brother loves it.
MY RATING: 8.1
Devendra Banhart - "A Sight to Behold"
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