Liking Devendra Banhart means always readying some kind of apology for him—for misbegotten flutes, for songs about butterflies and little boys, for times when he strips down shirtless to play tambourine. Wincing at it all is part of the project, and much of Banhart's charm derives from the degree to which he mingles a sense of true conviction with a sense of being in on the game. Certainly no other artist embodies "freak folk" as much, or as knowingly.
