Home > Los Angeles Music > CD Review > Devendra Banhart, "Smokey Rolls Down Thunder Canyon"

Backstory: As the patriarch and primary pitchman for “freak-folk” (a label he shuns), Devendra Banhart has helped resuscitate the careers of old-school folkies like Vashti Bunyan, Michael Hurley and Karen Dalton. But Banhart’s own shape-shifting music remains the most appealing (and eccentric) act in the whole widespread circus that has sprung up around him.

Why you should care: Banhart seemed critically bulletproof in his early years, but has morphed into more of a polarizing figure as both his sound and his profile have expanded. “Smokey Rolls Down Thunder Canyon” won’t change that. Banhart’s fifth album finds him gleefully and sometimes irreverently barging into genres that would ordinarily have no place alongside one another.
 
Verdict: Such an unchecked adventurous streak will inevitably lead to some fizzled experiments when stretched across 16 tracks, but “Smokey Rolls” serves up multiple gems. It’s a testament to Banhart that it’s difficult to imagine anyone else making this album; he’s operating in his own space, whether on the gospel-drenched “Saved,” the rambling Doorsy epic “Seahorse” or the dumbly hilarious doo-wop of “Shabop Shalom.” Despite its unwieldy name, “Tonada Yanomaminista” provides the best entry point—a rousing, galloping and relatively straightforward rocker.  

X-Factor: The pleasant, unobtrusive voice providing backing harmonies on “Cristobal” belongs to actor extraordinaire Gael Garcia Bernal—the sort of hip cameo that makes it seem like Banhart is just showing off his entourage.

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