Artist

Devendra Banhart

chamber pop freak folk new weird america

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Banhart emerged seemingly out of nowhere in 2002 with his first CD collection, Oh Me Oh My…, compiled by Swans frontman Michael Gira for his Young God label from homemade recordings Banhart had amassed as he traveled the world. He was born in Houston, Texas, but spent his childhood in Caracas, Venezuela; as a teenager, his family relocated in Southern California, where he soon became enamored of skateboard culture.

Music was always a passion for Banhart, and he discovered it in ways both magical and haphazard. As a boy in Caracas, says Banhart, “I was surrounded by salsa, merengue, cumbia, some bossa nova—that was ubiquitous, you’d hear it on any street.” In high school, Banhart became obsessed with rocksteady, bluebeat, and ska, which he’d learned about via skateboarding videos. Finishing high school, he thought he would pursue a visual arts career so he enrolled at the San Francisco Art Institute, but he soon dropped out in favor of exploring music. He has, however, successfully maintained a parallel career as a visual artist: Banhart’s works have appeared in galleries all over the world.

For Banhart, his career remains “an adventure and an exploration.” Banhart admits, “I don’t really take care of my voice, but, just like with playing guitar, you get more familiar with it, and you get better at it. I’ve always said that I’m very good at not knowing how to play the guitar but, really, it’s just that I’m very comfortable with the utter uncertainty of my approach.”

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