To call him unique would be an understatement. Devendra Banhart has been releasing beautiful music since about 2002, but has been playing since he was a teenager. In every video I’ve seen of him performing, he always seems to be having fun. His music and his performances are genuine.
Devendra Banhart on Last.fm
I’ve seen a lot of shows (I’m sure you have as well) and have been noticing a theme that separates the good ones from the bad ones. A show’s success can’t always be attributed to whether or not the performers are in key or if the show sounds identical to the album you were listening to in the car on the way their show. It all boils down to whether or not the artist is genuine about the music they are playing. Above all, I think we can all agree that seeing an artist love the music they’re playing (even if its the 30th show of a two month tour) is fascinating. I’ve been to countless shows where instruments have broken, out of tune, everything that could go wrong did, and so on and so on. But some of these performances were the best ones I have ever seen simply because the performer loved what they were doing and put enough passion into it to move you, both literally and figuratively. Not to stray too far, but I believe this is why Lady Gaga has become so popular. I can’t remember the last time a pop-star has shown as much love and devotion to their music as Lady Gaga has. People love that.
Here is Pitchfork’s review of Devendra Banhart’s most recent album release, What Will We Be
