Devendra Banhart\u2019s smooth and fresh sound is back again on his new release Mala. Following the success of his last album \u2018What Will We Be\u2019, \u2018Mala\u2019 marks Banhart\u2019s eighth album, recorded in his then hometown of Los Angeles. The album was co-produced with band-mate Noah Georgeson, with the duo playing and recording the instruments on the album themselves, allowing for the more intimate and earthy sound of the album, a sound that has very much become Banhart\u2019s own. The album itself was recorded on a piece found in an old pawn shop, which had been used originally to record hip-hop music. \u201c\u201cAnd knowing my songs are not hip-hop whatsoever, we thought it would be interesting to see how these kinds of songs would sound on equipment that was used to record our favorite rap. Let\u2019s see how this technology would work for us,\u201d Banhart said. Mala starts out slow and earthy with his track \u2018Golden Girls\u2019, marking the album\u2019s easy and unobtrusive sound. Banhart\u2019s funk-meets-folk sound is very much at play throughout the album, seen on tracks like \u2018Never Seen Such Good Things\u2019. Easy-listening instrumentals like \u2018The Ballad of Keenan Milton\u2019 break up the album, allowing diversity to \u2018Mala\u2019 and prevent the easy-going vocals from becoming too stagnant in an otherwise tranquil album. Banhart, who grew up partly in Caracas, Venezuela also has featured some Spanish-influenced tracks on his new album. His track \u2018Mi Negrita\u2019 features a steady beat and Spanish lyrics, allowing for a greater fluidity and sound, which is a constant sound throughout the album. Mala stays true to Banhart\u2019s well-loved sound, but retains a certain freshness which remains unique and distinctive. The album is smooth and relaxed, making it the perfect sound for a relaxing summer\u2019s day.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Devendra Banhart\u2019s smooth and fresh sound is back again on his new release Mala. Following the success of his last album \u2018What Will We Be\u2019, \u2018Mala\u2019 marks Banhart\u2019s eighth album, recorded in his then hometown of Los Angeles. The album was co-produced with band-mate Noah Georgeson, with the duo playing and recording the instruments on […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1393,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2527","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-cd_reviews"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.livestagemusic.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2527","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.livestagemusic.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.livestagemusic.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.livestagemusic.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1393"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.livestagemusic.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2527"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.livestagemusic.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2527\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.livestagemusic.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2527"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.livestagemusic.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2527"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.livestagemusic.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2527"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}