After large helpings of both DEVENDRA BANHART'S recent albums "Rejoicing In The Hands..." and "Nino Rojo", your reviewer's jury is still out. Both records irritated and inspired and proved themselves to be baffling as often as they were blissful. The fact that El Beardo himself is consistently shoved forth as leader of the spurious 'quirky-something' movement makes me feel a little uneasy as well.
Still, maybe it's a matter of approach, and perhaps the very fact that Devendra is so bloody out-there and yet in touch with the mainstream is reason enough to take him to heart. Certainly he's easier to stomach across the course of a three-track single and so it proves with "At The Hop".
Actually, it's generally when Devendra gets all wistful on us that he works best with this hack, so "At The Hop" is a winner in this respect. It proffers a keening acoustic melody, with just the merest hint of strings and finds our man crooning "put me your suitcase, let me help you pack, because you're never coming back." Blimey. Such fatalism. Admittedly, he does later wax lyrical about "candy pants" and the like, but for all the obvious modern-day Roky Erickson stylings, Devendra does have something when he cuts to his inimitable emotional chase.
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The two live B-sides have their moments as well. The superior is probably a faithful, if sombre cover of Neil Young's "Pardon My Heart" (one of many highlights from "Zuma"), with the Crosby, Stills & Nash harmonies covered by Vetiver. Recorded at a San Francisco bookshop, the recording is downhome and lends a coffeehouse atmosphere that suits Devendra's muse. The EP rounds off with "Roots", live from San Fran's Great American Music Hall, where Banhart has Vetiver, Joanna Newsom and (of all people) My Bloody Valentine's Colm O'Coisig in tow. It's strident and livelier than usual, though rather chaotic for all that and ends with Devendra repeating "We keep our boots outside our pants" like he's sleeptalking.
So that's the key to his universe, then. And there was me thinking it was his own personal peyote farm.
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