...FLART- Devendra Banhart- Cripple Crow

On the advice of one my initial music influences, my brother, Ive given a Devendra Banhart album a listen, and the following are my thoughts after one good listen or as I like to call it my FLART (First Listen Album Review Thoughts). With FLARTs maybe I can review some of the newer albums/releases so Im a bit more novel, even though I know opinions can change drastically over time with albums. Cripple Crow was the Banhart album which I received and it seemingly has two types of songs. On one hand he does slow acoustic numbers like 'Mama Wolf', 'Now that I know' and 'Heard Somebody Say'. This is where I feel that his talent is found, if musical talent was defined through my enjoyment. What I didnt enjoy was the other type of song, the whimsical, lyrically-different jingle which you can find characterized by "Chinese Children', 'Long-Haired Child' and 'Little Boys'. These songs are memorable and quirky, and maybe thats enough, but I found myself slightly annoyed by either the lyrics, melody or sillyness found with them. This may just be another example of me preferring the simple, straight-forward, voice and acoustic guitar method over the extraneous sounds brought in when an artists tries to fill out his raw embryo. Now I know you cant detail a whole album by describing two different songs, but at 23 tracks, I feel he really could of made two completely different albums, one which I could listen to and one which I could throw away. Banhart is indeed different than most things coming out of North America, maybe thats what attracted Natalie Portman, but I think I need to hear his other stuff before Im sold on his talent. Nat, I hope you enjoyed my thoughts on it, doing a non-Canadian artist was a big step for my blog.