With his beard and baggy clothes, the hippie Devendra Banhart seems somewhat out of place in our time. Still, he managed to generate a modest hype in the underground with his first two albums Oh Me Oh My ('02) and Rejoicing In The Hands ('04). With its curious mix of lo-fi folk and exotic influences, it is certainly an incomparable and imaginative personality. After the sober arrangements and
… deliberately inadequate sound quality of his first two albums, Cripple Crow is an attempt to translate the credit that he has built up in a small circle to a larger audience. The Sergeant Pepper-like cover already betrays a healthy ambition. The 22 (!) Songs are indeed well recorded this time and provided with varied instrumentation. Banhart's vocals resemble Marc Bolan and Donovan in turn, with whom he shares the flair and the philosophical slant respectively. Cripple Crow is not a coherent and convincing piece of work in every respect, but the record certainly has its strong moments and Banhart proves himself once again as a fascinating figure. (MS)more
