Listen: New Track From Devendra Banhart

10 January 2013

The follow up to Devendra Banhart’s Grammy nominated album ‘What Will We Be’ released back in 2009 has been highly anticipated and to keep us on tenterhooks, the dashing folk prince has given us a taste of his forthcoming album ‘Mala’ with a track titled ‘Für Hildegard von Bingen’. Mala is set for release on 11 March via Nonesuch Records. The album was recorded at Banhart's home using a vintage Tascam recorder and was created with guitarist Noah Georgeson; the 14 track LP also features Beck’s bassist Bran Inscore.

The track ‘Für Hildegard von Bingen’ is said to be inspired by a 12th century German mystic: "In my head, there was this little movie, an alternate universe, I guess," Banhart said. "Hildegard is sequestered in her cloister, and one day she gets a VHS cassette and it's the prime era of the MTV VJ, and she just goes wild. 'That's it for me,' she says. 'That's how I'm going to get my message across.' So she escapes the cloister and becomes a VJ."

From a first listen ‘Für Hildegard von Bingen’ represents a huge leap away from the nostalgic and beautifully naïve folk sounds of ‘What Will Be’ with silky whispers and delays that leave echoes of MGMT (first album) and the XX. Have a listen below, the album artwork was painted by Banhart himself who is incidentally an accomplished visual artist with his work appearing in galleries all over the world.

http://youtu.be/gqGUM1TrJgk

Image Credit: Mads Teglers

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