Tender light therapy with synth-based Americana: Devendra Banhart leaves freak folk behind.
The title FLYING WIG leads you to jump to the conclusion that Devendra Banhart’s new album would be a mishmash of slapstick and freak folk vibes. But it’s completely different, even if there are certainly funny undertones: together with his dream producer and label mate Cate Le Bon, the American-Venezuelan singer/songwriter has tackled the processing of his traumas. His life was always marked by grief and loss, said Banhart.
Musically, he wanted to find ways to turn negative experiences into positive ones. This therapeutic approach revealed ten delicate songs that oscillate between soul, gospel and Americana, which could at best be accused of being relatively uniform. In other words: There are hardly any shocks or changes of course in the pieces, which can be imagined as a calm/calming flow.
FLYING WIG is, so to speak, the musical equivalent of a mood light
The opener “Feeling” begins with heart palpitations, Banhart singing/breathing like a psychedelic angel, accompanied by reverb and sparse piano plinking. A heavenly introduction that makes the gentle four-four time of the following “Fireflies” stand out all the more clearly. Soulful brass instruments rock themselves into a trance in the background until Banhart demands a little (just a little!) more movement in the next piece.
From the beginning, the penchant for playful instrumentation and bizarre lyrics has remained; Banhart and Le Bon’s vision of “tender electronics” is most movingly manifested in the shimmering synth-pop of “Sirens”. FLYING WIG is, so to speak, the musical equivalent of a mood light