I wonder if Devendra Banhart is just too damn happy to make another record to match the brilliance of  2004’s ‘Rejoicing In The Hands …..’ , an album which IMHO still stands  as his masterpiece.

Banhart has always been the personification of a red rag for bullish hippy bashers.  Consequently, the backlash against his freaky brand of folk has been substantial. Added to this are the insidious snipes over his high-profile dalliance with Natalie Portman and ,now, comes his switch from the hallowed Indie ranks of XL Recordings to the major label Reprise Records of  Warners Music Group (boo! hiss!).

Verily, not the actions of a back to basics treehugger.

But, if you look at the names of those who big up the man, dubbing him as the villainous intruder of the New Weird America community becomes less convincing. How can you truly rank someone as a sell out and fraud who can cite among his admirers Beck, Ben Chasny, Antony (Hegarty), Sir Richard Bishop,  Jack Rose , Vashti Bunyan, Arthur Magazine etc etc.?

Sure, his dippy interviews and cross dressing and adverts for cheese put a strain on his credibility, but in spite of this I’ve always regarded him as a serious artist with a passion for making music that matters.

I confess, however, that I dearly wish he would make a record that is darker and more introspective. I truly believe he is capable of making a downbeat classic along the lines of  Nick Drake’s ‘Pink Moon’, Beck’s  ‘Sea Change’ or Bonny Billy’s ‘I See A Darkness’ . Admittedly, this might seem a real long shot, but I’d lay odds that DB has some dark songs hidden away in the closet along with his old kaftans.  I had hopes that his breakup with Portman might have given the impetus for some emotive soul-searching but judging by the serene vibes of  his new album – What Will We Be – it seems that his mates have rallied to see him through any potential personal crisis. So, he’s still chirpy enough to continue with the Naturalismo grooves and reggae meets samba rhythms.

In fairness, the record does feel like a more personal, sorted out work than the disjointed and largely disappointing ‘Smokey Rolls Down Thunder Canyon’. The co-production with Paul Butler of Isle of Wight’s ‘The Bees’ seems have been a grounding influence although it still has a few ‘what is this dude on’ moments, notably ‘Chin Chin & Muck Muck’ where he takes on the persona of an old woman or on Angelika where the track abruptly morphs from a gentle ballad to a tacky slab of Spanish bubblegum.

But there are more than enough moments to allay fears that he has sold his soul to the big bad major. The two ‘Songs for B’ (‘First’+ ‘Last’) are very beautiful and neither the tribute to glam-rock icons Roxy Music nor the riffy psych-out of ‘Rats’ are as bad as they threaten to be on paper. The laid back style of the second half of the record is a bit too much on the chilled side for my liking but at the same time these are tunes that warm the heart and calm the nerves.

Pitchfork’s dismissal aside, most of the reviews I’ve read so far rate the album as his most accessible and sorted out record to date. I wouldn’t argue with this assessment although these are not compliments in my book.  Fucked up and impenetrable would please me more but, then again, I realise my tastes rarely coincide with those of the lumpen masses.

Probably the biggest insult you could level at the record is that , despite himself, Devendra has gone and produced an album the Warner executives will be pleased with. It may even be his long-awaited (and deserved) breakthrough album. And if that doesn’t cause him to crack up, nothing will!