Devendra Banhart's four-song EP Vast Ovoid is out now. It follows his 2019 studio album, Ma, about which Q says: "Banhart’s singular world remains as intoxicating as ever, as if all human life is here." The EP, available in a limited-edition 12" white vinyl 45 and digitally, includes the Helado Negro remix of the Ma song "Love Song" and three songs "that didn’t quite fit in with Ma's theme of maternity," Banhart says. "Ultimately all three songs are about the difference between disappointment and disillusion … Bigger difference than I realized ..."
Devendra Banhart's four-song EP Vast Ovoid is out now as a limited-edition 12” white vinyl 45 and digitally on Nonesuch Records. The EP, a follow-up to Banhart’s critically acclaimed 2019 studio album, Ma, includes a remix of the Ma track “Love Song” by Helado Negro, along with three songs from the session that are not on the album. The vinyl is available via your favorite independent record store, Devendra Banhart's Store, Nonesuch Store, Bandcamp, and Amazon; the digital album is available on iTunes and can be heard on Apple Music and Spotify. Banhart recently recorded “Taking a Page” from Ma at his Los Angeles home for The Late Show with Stephen Colbert, which will include the video in its #PlayAtHome series this afternoon.
You can hear the EP's title track here:
Banhart says:
“This EP was born during the Ma recording sessions, three songs that didn’t quite fit in with Ma’s theme of maternity …
Ultimately all three songs are about the difference between disappointment and disillusion …
Bigger difference than I realized ...
Lots more freedom in disillusion, lots more breathing space ...
something is echoing out each day
between our distant bodies …
uncertainty has always been there, hasn’t it?
It’s scary …
But all the seeds for real change are actually starting to grow …
Onward we go ... tend to the garden tend to the garden
Keep your guard up
Keep your screws loose
Keep looking out for others
Keep checking in with your body
Keep returning to your breath
Tend to the garden.”
Ma, full of tender, autobiographical vignettes, displays a shift from the sonic experimentation of Banhart’s previous albums to an intricate, captivating story-telling and emotional intimacy. Banhart favors organic sounds to accompany his voice and guitar, the arrangements bolstered by strings, woodwinds, brass, and keyboards. He sings in English, Spanish, and Portuguese.
Uncut says, “Ma’s thesis is quietly revolutionary, celebrating the nurturing quality of female instinct. Banhart’s most focussed work to date,” while Pitchfork calls it “his best and most cohesive statement in more than a decade.”
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