Devendra Banhart – ‘Nino Rojo’ (XL) Released 27/09/04

To quote the title of Devendra Banhart’s 2002 debut album, “oh me, oh my”, the folkie weirdo’s only gone and released two albums within the space of five months! Some may call this prolific song-writing; others may cynically say that ‘Nino Rojo’ is a collection of numbers rejected from the session that brought us the critically acclaimed album ‘Rejoicing in the Hands of the Golden Empress’. Is the album merely full of ditties simply put on the market to take full advantage of the buzz that still quietly hums around Banhart? Well…

‘Nino Rojo’, according to Banhart, is the son on an exploration of all in front of him, whereas ‘Rejoicing…’ is the mother, the matriarch that has experienced, and commented upon these experiences. Hmmm!? In a number ways you can see where he’s coming from, the child-like innocence of the opener, ‘Wake Up Little Sparrow’, lyrically displays and illuminates the fragility and discovery of youth, whilst a repetitive guitar hook reminiscent to that of delta blues reflects such purity. Banhart’s quivering voice does no harm at all in getting across the notion of virtuousness, taking influence from sixties folkster Tim Buckley, and at times you can practically hear Jack White’s tender moments pushing through the Banhart sound.

Banhart sings of nature…a lot. Spiders, mongoose, turtles, dancing crabs; lets put it this way, he’s not a man Cradle of Filth fans would instantly take to - he’s twee, very twee! In fact, it all gets a bit nauseating; you’re left waiting for a change in chord that never comes with his stripped down sound. Finally Banhart delivers the answer to previous hype on ‘Noah’, a song that verges on alt-country (think Drugstore) with thanks to a band sound that you’ve been dying for. You only hope the next track can carry on such momentum, does it? Does it ****! Banhart was obviously taught that repetition was the mother of all learning (someone shoot that bloody mother!) ‘cause not one song seems to go anywhere!

It seems such a pity that such a talented guy has seemingly needlessly rushed out another album, and for what!? There is promise here, ‘Be Kind’ displays this, Banhart’s astute guitar arpeggios display this, but the album has an overall whiff of laziness. If Nino Rojo’s the son, it’s the son you’d seriously consider putting up for adoption.