Throughout Banhart’s 20-year career, he always seems to manage to find a muse, even if it exists somewhere inside himself. “There’s also something very inspiring and beautiful about that.” “There’s tremendous mourning in that,” he says. Though the journey has been arduous, Banhart has come to terms with arriving in a “new era” he accepts that the world will never be the same. Museum guests were encouraged to “relax on the lawns with a picnic, grab a bench or wander among the blooming garden beds as the sonic vibrations clear the air for a new era.” The record-streamed through a custom sound system placed throughout circular pathways-looped continuously for a weekend last August. Like Music for Airports, which made its way into New York’s LaGuardia and other airports throughout the ’80s, Refuge was installed at Getty Center’s Central Garden in Los Angeles. Like Eno’s Music for Airports series, self-described compositions aimed to induce calm and intentionally written to be “as ignorable as it is interesting,” Refuge fits into the same new age subgenre: environmental ambient music. Music that you hear and you can immediately forget what a huge compliment.” We’ve all been dealing with so much anxiety, so falling asleep is the highest compliment you can give us. It meant a lot of Indian music and ambient and new age-the music of our childhood and the music that we turned to, particularly during the pandemic, to create somewhat of a calming feeling. “There’s a musical side to that that we were turned on to as kids. “Noah and I came from families of devoted spiritual practitioners with very strong contemplative practices,” Banhart says. Banhart says he and longtime collaborator/producer/multi-instrumentalist Noah Georgeson were inspired to “create a very nostalgic and sentimental and familial space.” Refuge is the result. The pandemic informed the collection of new age/ambient instrumentals. Banhart has swapped out the childlike whimsy and trademark coloring-outside-the-lines for a taut, utilitarian and deliberate approach-more Sleepytime chamomile tea with a Brian Eno angel on the shoulder than ayahuasca-fused, Donovan-soaked parades down Rio de Janeiro streets. Refuge is unlike the bounty of multicultural, freak-folk singalongs on his previous 10 LPs. “If you fall asleep, we did our job,” Banhart says earnestly. The bearded singer-songwriter says there’s no greater compliment than hearing that the record put someone to sleep. Devendra Banhart’s 2021 release Refuge should come with a warning similar to the advice on some medication labels: May cause drowsiness don’t operate heavy machinery while listening.
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