Upon first glance you probably have little clue as to who you are staring at, and from what time period he is from (yes, he’s a he). Behold Devendra Banhart – a Venezuelan-American folk singer who, despite looking like a late 60s folk singer, is 27 years old, and friggin’ amazing. His dreamy and pleasantly non-sensical lyrics (in Spanish anyway) make the ear focus on the phonetics of the words rather than the content. It’s a wonderful and fun play at language – it doesn’t take itself way too seriously.
His latest album Smokey Rolls Down Thunder Canyon is deliciously fun with some upbeat tunes and some laid back ones. He is even accompanied by famous and uber-hot Mexican actor Gael Garcia Bernal on his track “Cristobal”.
In some funny twist of fate, Devendra started dating Garcia Bernal’s ex, Natalie Portman, when they met during the filming of Banhart’s music video for “Carmensita”. They are still together and boy do they look strange as a couple. But hey, Portman is great to look at and Banhart is great to listen too – a great combination as far as aesthetics are concerned.
Here’s the video to Banhart’s hit “Carmensita”. Awesome video, awesome song. Enough said.
Cheers,
coconut bug