Devendra Banhart - Mala
- Written by Rob Aldam
It would be fair to say that, over the course of his previous seven albums, Devendra Banhart’s output has been a bit hit and miss. Clearly very talented, the Texan draws from a vast reservoir of influences to create his own brand of off-kilter psyche-folk which ranges from the highly innovative to the self-imitative. Appearing from out of nowhere in 2002 after being discovered by Michael Gira and signed to Young God Records, he worked incessantly for several years, producing a plethora of releases and collaborations. After switching labels he eventually signed to Warner in 2009 and released What Will We Be, the follow-up to 2007’s Smokey Rolls Down Thunder Canyon. The release of his last two albums seemed to coincide with the reining in of his musical commitments, and sadly also seemingly his inclination to innovate and desire to tread fresh ground.
Unfortunately, in many ways Mala continues this trend. Banhart seems to have eschewed all his early weirdness and creative verve to produce an album that, whilst perfectly nice and full of well written pop/pop-folk songs, fails to excite or amaze in the same way he managed to earlier on in his career. Every song feels elaborately produced, despite the fact it was recorded at his home. His voice, which was never his strongest asset on his formative recordings, now sounds air-brushed to perfection. Whilst it’s really pretty and sunny at times - there’s none of the creative spark that characterised his best work. ‘Won’t You Come Over’ is a delicate and beautiful radio-friendly pop song, whilst ‘Mi Negrita’ sounds like a classic Spanish refrain. Indeed, it’s easily the highlight of Mala, and in a recent interview he admitted being more comfortable expressing his emotions in Spanish.
As a body of work, Mala feels like it’s been stripped back; both in the simplicity of the songs and the lack of embellishment. Even when he does try something a bit different on ‘A Gain’ or ‘Hatchet Wound’, it never really feels like his heart is in it. Ultimately, it slips into the realms of background music all too often; nothing really grabs your attention. Devendra Banhart has produced a pleasant distraction but not something that will either exercise the grey matter or linger in the memory for too long.
Mala is out on March 12 and is available from amazon