Devendra Banhart Announces New Album Ma, Shares Lead Single
Images via Nonesuch Records
Following up his dark and cozy 2016 LP Ape in Pink Marble, Devendra Banhart is back with a new album, Ma, set for release Sept. 13 via Nonesuch.
Banhart is also giving us a taste of what’s to come with a video for his first single, “Kantori Ongaku,” which means “country music” in Japanese.
The title is a clear nod at experimental pop legend Haruomi Hosono from the influential and ever-innovative electronic band Yellow Magic Orchestra.
The surreal, Japanese-inspired video includes a scruffy horse, intricate makeup looks and some very, very, very long hair in a colorful, abstract arrangement.
“The song’s video features a full circle journey of vignettes that play on the dream-like quality of intimate activities,” a press release explains.
Heavily folk with a dash of a boogie vibe, “Kantori Ongaku” aligns closely with Banhart’s more recent wispy, non-confrontational, guitar-laden sonic tradition, with a pop of horns trumpeting in the background.
Always favoring organic sounds, Banhart promises to continue weaving webs of acoustic guitar layered under vocals, and spun with strings, woodwinds, brass and keyboards on his third LP for Nonesuch.
While the instrumentation and acoustic style of Ma will be similar to Banhart’s previous works, the album will still be a step in a new direction.
“Ma, bursting with tender, autobiographical vignettes, displays a shift from the sonic experimentation of his previous albums to an intricate, captivating story-telling and emotional intimacy,” the album’s announcement notes.
Borne from a recording session with frequent collaborator Noah Georgeson at a temple in Kyoto, Japan, Ma excavates the unconditional nature of maternal love, as well as the desire to nurture someone, pass down wisdom and form a connection between mother and child—as well as the result of breaking that precious bond.
“Banhart doesn’t approach the album’s maternal theme in a literal way; rather, by contemplating it, alluding to it, regarding the concept of motherhood from different angles, he has fashioned an album of multiple, intertwining narratives,” the album announcement tells us.
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