Rejoicing In The Hands - Devendra Banhart
Rejoicing In The Hands Image
  • Summary: The second LP from the New York-based artist/musician/crazy hippie Devendra Banhart (who studied at the San Francisco Art Institute) includes 16 of the 32 lo-fi tracks recorded in the living room of veteran recording engineer Lynn Bridges. The remaining 16 will be released on a separate album later in 2004. Expand
Score distribution:
  1. Positive: 21 out of 21
  2. Mixed: 0 out of 21
  3. Negative: 0 out of 21
  1. Banhart is a complete antidote to all the consumer focus groups or hit-writers, too scared to tamper with the formula. He has stumbled upon a personal Eureka that says there're no laws governing what can be written about in song except self-imposed ones and he's taken that to his heart, and in Technicolor.
  2. Anyone who can sit down in such a short period of time and write this many unique songs has to have something abnormally genius working inside.
  3. 90
    A nearly flawless set of left-field folk. [Jun 2004, p.106]

See all 21 Critic Reviews

Score distribution:
  1. Positive: 6 out of 8
  2. Negative: 0 out of 8
  1. Can't fault this album, its not everybodys thing, but it wasn't mine till I listened to it again. I think one of the main reasons Devendra is so awesome is because he has such an imagination that is reflected in his music and lyrics. I always think a complete album always sounds fresh and this is like diving into newly settled snow every time. Expand
    • 0 of 0 users said yes
  2. KurtF
    10
    I get a lot of shit from friends for digging Devendra's stuff. "He looks like Jesus," they'd say, or "why are you listening to this sad bastard crap." But the point is Devendra is good, and you don't have to like his stuff to notice this. This is a 'solid' album, and I don't throw 'solid' around lightly. Although his finger picking riffs and chords are often very repeditive it's exactly what you want to hear. Expand
    • 0 of 0 users said yes
  3. JohnW
    5
    A few interesting moments, but overall, the guy who called this "twee" was right on the money. It's an insult to Jeff Buckley to say that Banhart sounds like him: he's got nowhere near JB's vocal prowess or edge. Banhart is a rockcrit bandwagon right now, but his sub-par evocation of early Marc Bolan doesn't produce much in the way of memorable songs: I expect the rockcrits will be on to the next flavor of the month by the time Banhart releases another album. Expand
    • 0 of 0 users said yes

See all 8 User Reviews

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