Track Listing

1. This Is The Way
2. Its A Sight To Behold
3. The Body Breaks
4. Poughkeepsie
5. Dogs That Make Up The Dark
6. Will Is My Friend
7. This Beard Is For Siobhan
8. See Saw
9. Tit Smoking In The Temple Of Artesan Mimicry
10. Rejoicing In The Hands
11. Fall
12. Todo Los Dolores
13. When The Sun Shone On Vetiver
14. There Was The Sun
15. Insect Eyes
16. Autumn�s Child

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #22240 in Music
• Released on: 2004-05-24
• Number of discs: 1

Amazon.co.uk Review
Devendra Banhart is an unlikely figure for mainstream deification, but his third album, Rejoicing in the Hands--the first for forward-thinking British independent XL--proves that appearances can be deceptive. Previous albums by this shaggy-haired ex-hobo have found him shunning upmarket studios and session musicians, preferring to perform his eerie folk lullabies unaccompanied and unadorned, the results recorded onto hissy tape-decks. Given this, Rejoicing... is an upping of the ante--its 16 songs were captured on high-quality vintage equipment in the living room of a house in Alabama with occasional overdubs of piano and guitar, yet the spirit remains largely the same: hushed, haunted, but always sparking with ideas.

At heart, Banhart is much more a storyteller than a confessional songwriter--a fact that suits his flexible technique: that's why one minute, he sounds like a reedy-voiced Appalachian folk-singer, finger-picking a banjo on the porch of a rural mountain shack, and the next, on "This Beard is for Siobhan", he's curling his lip like T Rex's Marc Bolan and hollering about having "a real good time". Banhart's approach may sometimes appear wilfully amateurish--hear how he goofs the first take of "Todolos Dolores", then recommences, tape still rolling--but this is accomplished, genuinely timeless stuff. --Louis Pattison

CD Description
Acclaimed eccentric singer/songwriter Devendra Banhart takes a step out of the lo-fi basement and into the hi-fi livingroom for this critically lauded album. During a span of only 10 days, Banhart recorded more than 30 songs (co-produced by former Swans leader Michael Gira) that were subsequently divided between this record and its companion disc, NINO ROJO. Those already familiar with that gonzo folk masterwork will find this to be equally worthy (and vice versa). "Will IsMy Friend," "Poughkeepsie," and other songs benefit from some string and piano overdubs, but essentially, this is solo Banhart, with his seemingly tossed-off yet strangely anachronistic tunes creeping out like incense-perfumed air. Banhart's deft acoustic guitar finger-picking and vocal warbling show the influence of country blues masters like Blind Willie McTell and Skip James, while another of his idols, reclusive1970s folk icon Vashti Bunyan, appears on the title track. Whether observing how a friend's hair is like "Insect Eyes" or rattling off the Elvis Presley filmography, Banhart purrswith such a mystic, neo-hippie vibe that he could lull eventhe staunchest nihilist to a love-in.

Customer Reviews

lo-fi perfection
I've not heard any of Banhart's previous records, but this is a beauty. delicate and understated but with a thrilling energy and wit that makes these simple guitar and voice songs sound a million miles away from the drippy miserablism of some singer/songwriter fare. Similar in spirit to Joanna Newsom's 'The Milk-Eyed Mender', (tho i guess Banhart was there first). There's more beauty in any one of these lo-fi gems than in a whole HMV full of over-produced digital blandness. If you're a Banhart fan, check out also David Thomas Broughton's 'Guide To Insufficiency'.

Yeah, it's a little different.
Don't listen to the first review on this page. The music is unusual, but never unapproachable.

This album has truly grown on me. The first listen was "wow, weird", but it just gets better. My only minor gripe is the occasional immaturity of the guitar playing, but maybe this creates an even better record because of it.

Whilst it's not an album you just pop on, it is something you will keep coming back to for those more personal listening moments.

summer and autumn
nothing can be sure to cheer me up like listening to banhart. inevitable really when most of his songs are about things like trees and bugs and breakfast.
musically similar to folk artists like nick drake (with some comparable string sections) and john renbourn, but with a slight manic, backwoods feel (largely created by the droning, sometimes quiet-sometimes loud, perfect vocals) banharts songs are low key and pretty, with a definate autumnul, earthy feel, perfect for hazy evenings and summer mornings.