Album review: Devendra Banhart, Mala (Nonesuch)

 

Andy Gill
Friday 08 March 2013 15:00 EST
Comments
Devendra Banhart, Mala (Nonesuch)
Devendra Banhart, Mala (Nonesuch)

Your support helps us to tell the story

From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.

At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.

The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.

Your support makes all the difference.

Devendra Banhart's last few albums left little impression, and despite moving to Warners' artists colony Nonesuch, his latest seems unlikely to arrest that trajectory.

It's not bad, just unnecessary. It shifts desultorily from style to style, with songs barely hanging around long enough to state their case.

Sometimes, that's a relief: the tribute to Hildegard von Bingen is facile. “Golden Girls” has a nice blend of strings and metallic percussion, but elsewhere things stumble from indie-folk to rudimentary electropop and oddball 1950s pop with a lack of volition.

Download: Golden Girls; Mi Negrita

Join our commenting forum

Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies

Comments

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged inPlease refresh your browser to be logged in