Devendra Banhart – “Let’s See”

Moses Berkson

Devendra Banhart – “Let’s See”

Moses Berkson

Last year, the veteran psychedelic folk sprite Devendra Banhart released an album called Ma, which does not have anything to do with Octavia Spencer befriending hard-partying teenagers. Since then, Banhart had assisted on the Mykki Blanco single “You Will Find It” and covered T. Rex’s “Scenesof.” Today, Banhart announced his intention to release a new EP called Vast Ovoid next month, and he also dropped one of its new tracks.

Vast Ovoid has three songs from the Ma sessions, as well as Helado Negro’s remix of the Ma track “Love Song.” Per Banhart, the new tracks “didn’t quite fit in with Ma’s theme of maternity.” He’s just shared the new track “Let’s See,” a loose and playful track that ends with an extended quote from the Beach Boys’ “Surfin USA.” Check it out below.

In a press release, 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.

I interviewed Banhart once, and he really talks like this in his regular life, too. The Vast Ovoid EP is out 7/24 on Nonesuch.

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