 Devendra Banhart: Smokey Rolls Down Thunder Canyon
The often eclectic Devendra Banhart releases his sixth studio album. Smokey Rolls Down Thunder Canyon was recorded in Topanga Canyon in the Santa Monica mountains. These mountains have been homes to Neil Young, The Doors, Joni Mitchell, and Fleetwood Mac. All these artists ghosts seem to haunt Smokey.
If you think the album title is long, wait until you hear the album. The 16 track album is over an hour in length. Album length is not usually a big problem, but in Smokey's the album drags on forever.
It might seem forever because of Banhart's inability to make a cohesive album. Listening to Smokey feels like you're flipping around radio stations, staying on some stations longer than others. Sometimes Devendra sings in English, other times he just talks in English over music, other times he sings in other languages. "Samba Vexillographica" is a samba, "Shabop Shalom" is a Roy Orbison like ballad, "Tonada Yanomaminista" is a retro psychedelic rock song, while "Saved" could have easily come out of the Doors catalogue.
All these genres and styles are good on their own, but there is nothing holding them together. Nothing is constant between the songs, even Devendra changes his voice from song to song. With nothing making this seem like an album, you have to judge the album song by song. Some songs hold up better than others. His long acoustic numbers are too rambling and too inconsistent. In an album setting they might be okay but in this hodgepodge it's too much.
Devendra would do well to find a good common ground in song writing and sticking with it.
Rating: 6.0/10
MP3: Devendra Banhart "Shabop Shalom"
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3 comments:
To judge a Devendra Banhart album, I think you really need to listen to a lot of his music before you give an educated review. Which this blog obviously is not. The album 'Smokey Rolls Down Thunder Canyon' perfectly suits Devendra and his music genre. His songs do not need to have something "holding them together" or something "constant between the songs". If there was something constant between all of his songs, then wouldn't he just sound like every other singer out there? I think so. This album perfectly displays what makes Devendra, Devendra. It is very sad that his fans cannot pick up on his originality and feel the need to give his album such a bad review.
I feel that Devendra's new album is amazing by itself and doesn't need such a harsh review. Devendra has hundreds of other songs that in about 20 different genres and who cares if theres anything holding them together? Devendra's music is unique because it doesn't stick to one genre or one specific sound and if you don't respect that, then thats fine. Devendra would prefer people listening to his music that actually respect him anyways.
While it's true that Devendra's songs are often disconnected and give his albums a unique feel, the flaw in both reviews is the lack of meaning. Devendra's music has morphed with every album--no two are alike-- but the one actual constant is that he has been climbing closer to the pop side of independant music artist each year. 'Oh Me, Oh My' and 'Rejoycing in the Hands' both allowed Devendra the soft power he lacks when his magnetic vocals speed into out of control Pop.
It's not that I don't respect Devendra anymore, or wouldn't like to listen to some new old shit. He's just gotten too wild with the hop that his long-time faithful loves are nothing but disappointed. I don't see him changing his ways any time soon, so, I'm sad.
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