Track Listing 1. Can't Help But Smiling 2. Angelika 3. Baby 4. Goin Back 5. First Song For B 6. Last Song For B 7. Chin Chin & Muck Muck 8. 16th & Valencia Roxy Music 9. Rats 10. Maria Lionza 11. Brindo 12. Meet Me At Lookout Point 13. Walilamdzi 14. Foolin
| Details | | Producer: | Devendra Banhart, Paul Butler | | Distributor: | WEA (Distributor) | | Recording Type: | Studio | | Recording Mode: | Stereo | | SPAR Code: | n/a |
Album Notes Audio Mixers: Luckey Remington; Devendra Banhart; Paul Butler. Recording information: California. Arrangers: Luckey Remington; Greg Rogo Ve; Devendra Banhart; Noah Georgeson; Paul Butler. Setting aside the grand orchestrations of SMOKEY ROLLS DOWN THUNDER CANYON, Devendra Banhart's WHAT WILL WE BE is everything its predecessor was not: straightforward, cleanly produced, consistently laid-back (to nearly Jack Johnson proportions), and free of ambition. Banhart enlists the same band as last time (Noah Georgeson, Greg Rogove, Luckey Remington, and Rodrigo Amarante), but hired production whiz Paul Butler, whose records with A Band of Bees are some of the most striking productions of the 2000s. The double-tracked vocals give the album the same air as Banhart's early four-track experiments, but there's no haunted quality, just an occasional hippie-dippie aside in his delivery. Recorded in Northern California, WHAT WILL WE BE often has the same slacker sensibilities and scent of ocean breeze that Jack Johnson has made his name with (read: funky white-bread basslines and closely miked drums played with plenty of whisk). Banhart's persona emerges intact despite the mainstream sound, however, and WHAT WILL WE BE becomes a pleasantly fresh album to follow the ponderous, sprawling SMOKEY ROLLS DOWN THUNDER CANYON.
Editorial Reviews 4 stars out of 5 -- Across the course of these 14 tracks, Banhart references Brian Wilson in his celestial pomp, The Byrds at their most folksy and Tim Buckley at his dreamiest... Q
Throughout the set, Banhart's expressive vocals are the real pleasure point... Billboard
3 stars out of 5 -- Banhart ramps up the production values and eases the oddball imagery on WHAT WILL WE BE... Alternative Press
[Banhart is] more energized than ever, snake-dancing his way through wild, Lizard King blues, goofing on glam-rock grandstanding, and just letting his thoughts grow... -- Grade: B+ Entertainment Weekly
3.5 stars out of 5 -- The sixth studio album by Devendra Banhart is the best he's ever made....Proof comes early in 'Baby,' a ball of dancing guitars and choral glaze that sounds like a woodland Beach Boys... Rolling Stone
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