Get Out of Your Rut With Alt-Folk Guru Devendra Banhart Ahead of His Jun 9 Yugong Yishan Gig

Feeling a little down? Fear not, because indie folk star and feel-good guru Devendra Banhart has plenty of sunny vibes and time-honored wisdom to hoist you out of even the deepest of doldrums.

Not only is the 36-year-old Houston troubadour’s music indebted to the Flower Generation – his musings are notoriously trippy, idealistic, and ruefully groovy. Speaking to Banhart ahead of his Jun 9 gig at Yugong Yishan, he didn’t disappoint, delivering self-deprecating non-sequiturs that morphed into inspirational palate whetters. Many of his answers were silly, others were surprisingly poignant. None were dull.

One review of your latest LP, 2016’s Ape In Pink Marble says: "It’s glorious that Banhart has found this high watermark plateau so far into his career, especially when you remember he was once in danger of becoming the one-time token hippy at the party." Do you agree that you were in a bit of a rut before that, and regained traction with Pink Marble?
Oh yeah! In a rut for sure, but a rut is a good place to be! It makes it easier to know which way to go. As the first tenant of Buddhism states, all life is suffering, and how you react to that suffering or how much you identify with it is all you can work on or work with.

The so-called “rut” is really a perspective, a mental position. Ruts will always come. Do we resist them, or work with them? Do we work through them or let them consume us? It may not be the easiest path, but I say go through it! Just don’t get too attached to, as you put it, regaining traction, because pretty soon you’re off the rails again! That’s just how the world game goes. 

Seeing as it's been two years since you released Ape In Pink Marble. Are you in the midst of a follow-up, and if so, what muses are currently inspiring you?
Yes, we are just beginning to record the new album. The hope is to record it all over California, beginning in the north and moving southward, then ending with one single overdub at a temple in Kyoto.

At the moment the biggest inspirations seem to be the birth of so many children in my life. All of my closest friends are bringing life into the world and it’s so inspiring. Also, the news these days is right out of a chaohuan novel [a modern Chinese literary genre that strives to capture the “ultra-unreal”]. So, that’s bound to weave its way in there somehow ...

Way back in 2009 you told Pitchfork: "I've never recorded in a super controlled … professional recording studio. I don't think it's respectful to exclude the rest of the world. For example, I was recording a song for this last record and while I was playing a fly landed on my nose. That changed the cadence, the vibration, the emotiveness – the entire song. I want to be able to collaborate with the unknown.” Do you still feel that way?
I certainly would never word it that way today; the “I don't think it's respectful to exclude the rest of the world,” part in particular. It was an unskillful way of trying to make a case for total acoustic inclusion. But putting down the alternative never works! Ugh, how embarrassing! 

Anyways, no, I don’t think it’s lame to record in a proper soundproofed studio. It’s amazing actually! And I’m of both schools; it all depends on the song. Does this one call for open windows and the sounds of traffic, the sounds of the sea? Or does it call for total external silence and intimacy? The song determines the approach we take in the studio.

Was that fly landing on your nose the most distracting thing that ever happened while you were recording?
Oh, I don’t need any help getting distracted … What was the question again?

You once famously sang: "From my cave to my grave I guess I'll always be a child." Would you say you've grown up since then?
I say this with a mixture of pride and horror, but I’m considerably less mature today than I was when I wrote those lines. At the time, I thought I was a genuine “grown-up” and so singing a song about feeling like a child was funny and ironic. Now that I’ve been an “adult” for some time I’ve noticed that the very few actual adults I’ve met have a lot more in common with kids than I would have ever imagined earlier on in my life. A sense of wonder and awe, respect for their fellows, intuition, and insight – all rare flowers. 

What aspects of your upbringing in Venezuela still impact your songwriting and artistry to this day?
For one, there is a love of nature, art, and poetry that is very much a part of Venezuela’s cultural heritage. It’s devastatingly sad, what’s been happening there. And just when I think it can’t possibly get worse, it does. I was just there, and it’s a full-fledged military dictatorship. Total disregard for the suffering of the people. [President Nicolás] Maduro and Trump have a lot in common. But I have hope, and so do all the Venezuelans I know. A heartbroken open hope, but hope nonetheless.

Devendra Banhart will perform at Yugong Yishan on Jun 9. Tickets are RMB 180 advance (available until noon Saturday) and RMB 240 on the door.

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