Three Young Folkies Take a Step Forward

Devendra Banhart, Iron and Wine, and José González have more in common than new albums that come out today and New York City shows scheduled for later this week. There is that earthy musical personality to these troubadours and their guitars, who spread their love and peace through freaky or dreamy folk music. But side by side, even as two of the three move into new territory, with full bands and fuller productions, their similarities are dwarfed by differences.Mr. Banhart’s “Smokey Rolls Down Thunder Canyon” (Beggars XL Recordings) is another step down the musical path the 26-year-old took on 2005’s “Cripple Crow,” and here he finds a success that proved elusive last time around. Thankfully, his songwriting has grown to fit the cast of musicians he now employs, rather than the band pushing its way into Mr. Banhart’s more intimate style. The result is a goulash of imitations, searching for influence and grasping for humor.It seems, however, that all this soup could use a smaller bowl; at least four of the 16 songs here sound like incomplete ideas for interludes. Though he’s trimmed from the 22 tracks that comprised “Cripple Crow,” perhaps Mr. Banhart needs to be reminded that he is not a rapper. Who better than Neil Young? Although Mr. Banhart has followed Mr. Young’s 1970 precedent of building a recording studio in a newly purchased Topanga Canyon home, Mr. Young’s brilliance in “After the Gold Rush” seems to have eluded the young folkie thus far.The Spanish songs might be better all around than the English ones, or perhaps the South American rhythms make for a welcome pairing of word and sound, one that eludes other tracks like “Shabob Shalom,” a funny but not always ha-ha shot at Transylvanian-born Monotones. Elswhere, fans of Mr. Banhart’s spare acoustic guitar will find that the funk and R&B tracks here, like “Saved” and “Lover,” stand out as most odd. The search for new masks is laudable to be sure, but the mélange here looks more like a hat trick.That’s not to say that the ever-so-sincere and beautiful performer doesn’t shine more than occasionally. “Cristobal” is a stunning opener; just as impressive is “Samba Vexillographica,” on which Mr. Banhart evokes the early days of Brazilian star Gilberto Gil. In between, we get “So Long Old Bean,” and though Mr. Banhart deepens his voice and ups the spectral warble, the song falls flat and lands on the whimsical sounds of a chorus that can’t quite prop the slumbering giant. Better is “Bad Girl,” a similarly muffled but haunting song, on which Mr. Banhart benefits from sounding creepy when whispering, “I’ve been a bad girl.”The three sections of the eight-minute epic “Seahorse” find more integrity than the album does as a whole. With his muse, the English folk veteran Vashti Bunyan, lending backing vocals, Mr. Banhart straight-facedly sings, “I’m high and I’m happy and I’m free,” before launching into a Dave Brubeck jam, over which he recalls some of his earlier themes with “I want to be a little seahorse.” It ends with a country rock guitar drive, and he doffs the druggy high for a drunk Jim Morrison belting, “Well I’m scared of ever being born again.”* * *Sam Beam, the forlorn backporch bard who goes by the name of Iron and Wine, modifies his ways on “The Shepherd’s Dog” (Sub Pop). But unlike Mr. Banhart, this isn’t a product of genre hopping, but of new essays into songwriting and producing, as well as the presence of the band Calexico, with whom Mr. Beam collaborated on his last album, “In the Reins.” Adding piano, organ, and atmospherics to a single banjo is chancy work, but the results here are impressive. “Lovesong of the Buzzard” is elegant in its interweaving of hand percussion with an upright bass line, accordion, organ, and loose guitar. Meanwhile, “The House by the Sea” brings airy bleeps and pops to Mr. Beam’s trademark plucking, and the result is a danceable, upbeat track.Mr. Beam sounds as comfortable in this new guise as he did in the old, letting pastoral habits peek through on the quiet tracks like “Resurrection Fern,” with its steely twang beneath lyrics that evoke the charms of country life — fires, trees, and ghosts. The result is a welcome change of pace for the singer, though the test will be how he looks and sounds on stage later this week.* * *Those seeking a little more of the same should turn to José González for “In Our Nature” (Mute). Defying the seeming pointlessness of doing the same thing twice, the young Swede, who scored a gold hit with his 2005 album, “Veneer,” has yet to find it necessary to reinvent his sound — though he could use some concern about “making the same mistake twice,” as he sings on “Down the Line.”But for those who enjoyed “Veneer,” it is unfortunate that the implications of that name should become so apparent on his latest. The prettiness of his songs, the lithe voice, superb guitar work, and predictable songwriting would all be just as welcome as they were two years ago were it not for the sinking, hollow feeling lent by this repetition. But then again, sometimes a song is just a song, and all the more refreshing for it.Mr. Banhart performs Thursday at the Grand Ballroom (311 W. 34th St., between Eighth and Ninth avenues, 212-695-6600); Mr. González performs Thursday and Friday at the Gramercy Theater (127 E. 23rd St., between Park and Lexington avenues, 212-777-4900) and Saturday at the Music Hall of Williamsburg (66 N. Sixth St., between Wythe and Kent avenues, Brooklyn, 212-260-4700); Iron and Wine performs Sunday at Town Hall (123 W. 43rd St., between Sixth Avenue & Broadway, 212-840-2824).

Three Young Folkies Take a Step Forward

Three Young Folkies Take a Step Forward

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