Devendra Banhart - Smokey Rolls Down Thunder Canyon

MOGstars: 9 out of 10Forged in Topanga Canyon, one time playground of all of hippie-folk royalty, Devendra Banhart’s latest offering sees him lose some of his more extreme idiosyncrasies and mix a more accessible sound with retrospective overtones that hark back to Stills, Mitchell and Young.Opening track _Cristobal_ glides past with gravely vocals and gentle guitar plucks with the Spanish vocals carrying only a hint of the crazies, while the Hawaiian infused _So Long Old Bean_ also verges on the mainstream. Yet both songs posses a fragile beauty that swirls through your ears like an autumn mist, soon to be dispelled as _Samba Vexillographica_ lives up to its name, serving up eminently danceable flamenco stylings beneath Spanish vocals while album highlight _Seahorse_ crams everything from fingerpicking to glam rock into eight minutes of epic dreamscapes. _Bad Girl_ merges distant sounding drums with barely audible vocals in an atmospheric ballad before the traditional folk fare of _Seaside_ then subsides to swinging love song _Shabop Shalom_ that sounds like the Yiddish Roy Orbison (three words I never thought I’d write together). Yet nothing remains steady for more than one song as _Tonada Yanomaminista_ explodes into an anthemic sing-along with powerful staccato backbeats. The genre rollercoaster continues with the pure South American psychedelia of _Rosa_ while _Saved_ carries a suitably evangelical tone, with pier-end organs exploding into a soulful, gospel led chorus. This is gives way to the high energy reggae funk of _Lover_ and the rapid rumba of _Carmensita_, which just as quickly turns into the Caribbean sounds of _The Other Woman_. _Freely’s_ gently strummed philosophic folk calms things down as it floats from ear to ear in a carefree manner continues into the gentle piano and gravely vocals of _I Remember_ before the album meanders to its end through atmospheric and existensial closing track _My Dearest Friend_.Despite sounding perhaps a little tamer than previous outings, _Smokey Rolls Down Thunder Canyon_ still boasts the off the wall jams that have made Devendra’s freak-folk so attractive. Acting like a window into his head, this album is rooted neither in time nor space. Blending various styles and languages into shimmies from past to present to future, resulting in a timeless melange. The somewhat chaotic combination of styles and no two songs being truly alike may confuse some, but each bears the hallmark of Banhart’s relaxed and solid songwriting. Throwing in every genre you can imagine and sounding like everyone from Neil Young to Marc Bolan, this psychedelic freak-folk should be perfect for anyone who wants to take a walk on the wild side.