Mandatory Music: Devendra Banhart ‘Vast Ovoid’ EP Fills Your Quarantine Space With Gentle Grooves

Devendra Banhart has a new soundtrack for your quarantine. It’s a four-song EP titled Vast Ovoid and it’s being released as a limited-edition 12-inch colored vinyl 45 on July 24 as a follow-up to his 2019 album, Ma.

“This EP was born during the Ma recording sessions, three songs that didn’t quite fit in with Ma’s theme of maternity,” the singer has said. “Ultimately all three songs are about the difference between disappointment and disillusion.”

So far, two songs have been released from the EP. “Love Song [Helado Negro Remix]” is an airy, boppable tune that evokes a beachside cabana, ocean breezes, and funny little dance moves you’d be embarrassed to share with anyone but that special someone who thinks the sun rises and sets on you.

“Let’s See” is a strummy number that feels closer to an intellectual’s spoken word performance than a song. Have a listen.

The 39-year-old Venezuelan American singer-songwriter has built a catalog of inimitable folk songs over the course of his music career. Blending hippie and ashram vibes with trippy sounds and quirky storytelling, his music has found a cult following on the indie scene. Banhart is also a talented (and professionally trained) visual artist; his drawings have shown at both the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art and in the Centre for Fine Arts, Brussels.

During these stressful times, we’ll take anything we can get to help us chill out. It seems as if Vast Ovoid will be exactly the sonic prescription we need right now.

Cover Photo: Xavi Torrent / Contributor (Getty Images)

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