Devendra Banhart PERHAPS IN CLOUDED SHROUDS

PERHAPS IN CLOUDED SHROUDS
Devendra Banhart and Dana Kline

By Alexander Laurence

Devendra Banhart stormed on the music scene in 2002 with his very first album. He started a folk revolution with his very original and idiosyncratic four albums in four years, and many his tours worldwide. He even showed up in a Beck video. The twenty-five year old Banhart seemed to be everywhere for a moment. Years ago he was even willing to give attention to the then burgeoning group Vetiver. I watched him enjoy the music of Vetiver during a sound check. He was like the biggest music fan ever. There was a real joy and innocence to Banhart’s whole fresh perspective. Banhart had a real knack for seeing art where no one was looking.

Devendra Banhart has been frequently mistyped as some leader of a “freak folk” movement, especially in the UK. He is aware of several music traditions and he listens to modern music too. He has always been a huge fan of Caetano Veloso. Recently he played a show with Bert Jansch. In interviews, Banhart seems displeased when the journalists have pegged him as some retro act. He is not a retro act at all. It’s very modern music with influences and new ideas. With his early songs like “Roots…” it was obvious that he was trying to re-animate the world, and all animals, and all things in it.

All along Banhart seemed to have worked out of some artistic sketchbook. Some ideas would become songs and some painting and drawings. Years ago he used to perform in art galleries. His work has been on most of his albums. Many of the drawings are ink on paper, and act as another layer in his total vision. The images themselves are dreamlike, displaced, worldly, and interrupted by a subtle darkness. Recently he got together with poet and childhood friend, Dana Kline, and published a book called “Perhaps In Clouded Shrouds.” They had a party in New York where the band Golden Animals played. Devendra has recently moved to Venice, California, to work on his new album and other projects.

I spoke to Dana Kline recently about how this book came about. Dana Kline explained the beginnings: “Devendra and I have known each other ten years. I moved to New York City and he would stay with me whenever he was in town. I would play with him. We talked about collaborating. We weren’t sure what it was going to be. I met this person, Morgan, who owned this store called Number Six. It is a vintage shop in Soho. She said she wanted to have this art show every six months. She was involved in a small publishing adventure with her boyfriend. She asked me if I wanted to be involved. I remembered this collaboration idea I had. Devendra sent me this set of drawings and I responded to each one with a poem. It took about six months to come together.”

Some art books are real collaborations and some are brilliant ideas that seem to mirror the two artists separate worlds. Dana Kline explains how this book is a true collaboration: “I wanted to created a dialogue between the words and images. I would look at each image, drink a bottle of wine, and write something based on the characters, from their perspectives. Or I would look at certain words and sculpt them into a poem. Much of the time I was thinking of our friendship. It was about the fact that we were living on different coasts. I remembered some of the hardcore punk shows that we went to when we were fourteen.”

The drawings are wonderful, and poetry by Kline has great moments too. I loved lines like “Sweet infiltrated fork toes of unabridged glee!” I mentioned that some, who just know Devendra through his music, would be surprised to know that he also has this artist’s background. Kline says: “People who are creative have an aptitude for displaying that. Devendra is a dreamer. That comes out in the way he carried himself and the way he speaks. His vision is very specific. People can focus on certain ways to visualize the world. He has been drawing and playing guitar since I met him. That was when we were in grade school. He has always been working on many different projects.”

Really Devendra is the most modern artist. Devendra is connected to everything in the natural world. He is just being himself. Devendra is like sunshine.