| Devendra Banhart | |
|---|---|
Banhart in 2007 |
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| Background information | |
| Born | May 30, 1981 Houston, Texas United States |
| Genres | Indie folk, freak folk, psych folk, folk rock, New Weird America, Latin, lo-fi |
| Occupations | Musician, singer-songwriter |
| Instruments | Guitar, vocals |
| Years active | 2002–present |
| Labels | XL Young God hinah Reprise |
| Associated acts | Vetiver, Michael Gira, Megapuss, Beck, CocoRosie, Antony Hegarty, Little Joy, Joanna Newsom, Noah Georgeson , MGMT |
| Website | devendrabanhart.com |
Devendra Obi Banhart (born May 30, 1981) is a singer-songwriter and visual artist. Banhart was born in Houston, Texas and was raised by his mother in Venezuela, until he moved to California as a teenager. He began to study at the San Francisco Art Institute in 1998, but dropped out to perform music in Europe, San Francisco and Los Angeles. Banhart released his debut album in 2002, continuing to record his material on the Young God and XL labels, as well as other work on compilations and collaborations.
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Banhart was born May 30, 1981 in Houston, Texas to a Venezuelan mother and an American father.[1] His given name is a synonym for Indra, the Hindu god of rain and thunder, which was suggested by Prem Rawat, an Indian religious leader whom Banhart's parents followed.[2] Banhart's middle name Obi was modeled after the Star Wars character.[3] Banhart's parents divorced two years after his birth and he moved with his mother to Caracas, Venezuela.[4] His mother later remarried and Banhart's stepfather moved the family to Los Angeles, California,[4] when Banhart was 14 years old.[5]
In 1998, Banhart began studying at the San Francisco Art Institute on a scholarship[4] while living in The Castro, San Francisco's gay neighborhood.[6] He began to busk instead of attending classes and played his first show in a church at a gay wedding, performing Elvis Presley's "Love Me Tender" and the classic hymn "How Great Thou Art."[5] Banhart dropped out of art school in 2000[4] and left San Francisco after the dot-com bust worsened the city's economy.[5] He moved to Paris, France, over the summer and opened shows for indie rock bands such as Sonic Youth.[4] Banhart returned to the United States in the fall of 2000 and played music in San Francisco and Los Angeles, until he was discovered by Michael Gira, owner of Young God Records,[4] after Siobhan Duffy, Gira's wife, bought a copy of Banhart's demo CD The Charles C. Leary and gave it to Gira.[2]
Banhart and Gira compiled an album from Banhart's recordings,[2] and in 2002, Oh Me Oh My, which was made up of short fragments,[7] was published by Young God Records and received favorable reviews.[8] He recorded two other albums and an EP for the label: Rejoicing in the Hands, Niño Rojo, and The Black Babies;[8] the releases had a simple acoustic sound.[6] Banhart changed to XL Recordings in 2005[8] and released Cripple Crow, which was recorded in Bearsville Studios, New York and had a more elaborate sound.[6] He recorded his second album for XL Records, Smokey Rolls Down Thunder Canyon, at his home studio in Topanga, California.[8] The album charted on the Billboard 200 at number 115.[9] The album's song "Lover" was featured in the soundtrack of the movie Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist, which included a cameo appearance by Banhart.[10]
Banhart performs with the band Vetiver[1] and has performed in Carnegie Hall[11] and Hollywood Bowl opening for Gilberto Gil,[12] as well as at Bonnaroo and Coachella music festivals.[5] He founded a record label, Gnomonsong, with Andy Cabic of Vetiver, in 2005.[1][13] In 2007, he signed with Neil Young's manager Elliot Roberts, who also contributed vocals to Smokey Rolls Down Thunder Canyon.[2][14] In 2008, Banhart released the album Surfing in a collaborative project with multi-instrumentalist Greg Rogove named Megapuss.[15] In 2009, he signed to Warner/Reprise and plans to release a new album, What Will We Be.[16] He has, at the band's request, produced a remix of Oasis' "(Get Off Your) High Horse Lady".[17] Along with "Neighbors", Devendra remixed the Phoenix song "Rome" from their 2009 album Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix.[18]
On September 4, 2009, Beck announced his second Record Club covers album, Songs of Leonard Cohen. Banhart will contribute, alongside MGMT, Andrew Stockdale of Wolfmother and Binki Shapiro of Little Joy.[19]
He is a collector of music artifacts.[5] Banhart wrote the foreword for and appears in his friend Lauren Dukoff's book Family: Photographs by Lauren Dukoff.[20][21] He has also written the introduction to a selection of poems by Kenneth Patchen.
On October 27, 2009, Banhart released What Will We Be, his first record on Warner/Reprise. Banhart and Jon Beasley, who were credited as art directors for the album's artwork and packaging, were nominated for a Grammy in 2011 for Best Recording Package.[22]
The film Life During Wartime, directed by Todd Solondz, features a musical collaboration between Banhart and Beck. The song plays over the film's end credits. Banhart sings lead vocals while Beck adds backing vocals and also recorded the track. The lyrics were written by Solondz and the music by composer Marc Shaiman.[23]
Banhart is an avid skateboarder, and in March 2010 broke a bone in his right leg while skating, only hours before a concert in Phoenix, resulting in the cancelation of future shows in Utah and Colorado.
In 2011, he collaborated with Marisa Monte and Rodrigo Amarante on a version of the song "Nú Com a Minha Música" for the Red Hot Organization's most recent charitable album "Red Hot+Rio 2." The album is a follow-up to the 1996 "Red Hot + Rio." Proceeds from the sales will be donated to raise awareness and money to fight AIDS/HIV and related health and social issues.
Drawings by Banhart were featured in the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art and in the Centre for Fine Arts, Brussels.[24][25]
Banhart's drawings have also been featured in the Art Basel Contemporary Art Fair in Miami, FL, the Mazzoli Gallery in Modena, Italy, Spain's ARCOmadrid. and the Andrew Roth Gallery gallery in New York.[26]
Banhart's drawings were previously featured in MOCA's exhibit: "The Artist's Museum" which showcases the works of influential Los Angeles based artists from the last 30 years. As part of the exhibit Banhart collaborated with artist Doug Aitken and musicians Beck and Caetano Veloso for a musical and visual performance piece.
Banhart's music is often associated with the New Weird America genre, along with Vetiver and Joanna Newsom.[27] The New York Times has called his songs "free associative work"[7] and SPIN magazine has written that "Banhart's albums offer ashram-appropriate guitar strums, trippy-hippie tone poetry."[28] Various publications have described his style as psych folk,[29] avant-folk, freak folk,[7] Lo-Fi, hipster folk revival,[30] and alternative folk.[8]
Many notable reviewers, including AllMusic, The Times, and Mojo, have pointed out similarities between Banhart's songs and production with that of the early 1970s band Tyrannosaurus Rex (an early version of Mark Bolan's T. Rex).[31][32][33][34][35] In a May 2004 interview with Arthur magazine, Banhart claimed that he was unaware of the music of Tyrannosaurus Rex until after he began writing and recording songs.[36] Devendra Banhart has downplayed Bolan's influence on his music, and instead prefers to credit Vashti Bunyan, Karen Dalton, Caetano Veloso, Simon Diaz, Fred Neil, Nico, Donovan, Six Organs of Admittance and certain albums such as David Crosby's If I Could Only Remember My Name among his main influences.[33][34][36][37]
| Year | Album | UK Album Chart |
US Billboard 200 |
US Billboard Heatseekers |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2002 | The Charles C. Leary | - | - | - |
| 2002 | Oh Me Oh My | - | - | - |
| 2004 | Rejoicing in the Hands | - | - | - |
| 2004 | Niño Rojo | - | - | - |
| 2005 | Cripple Crow | 69 | - | 13 |
| 2007 | Smokey Rolls Down Thunder Canyon | - | 115 | 3 |
| 2009 | What Will We Be | - | 139 | 4 |
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