DEVENDRA BANHART PUTS ON HAIRS
CREEM goes wig shopping with the father of freak folk.


Given that Devendra Banhart has named his 11th studio album Flying Wig, you might be tempted to think the dashing but idiosyncratic musician is hair-obsessed. After all, he chose to work with Cate Le Bon, creative visionary and producer, on the basis of her willingness to cut his hair the first time the duo met, despite the fact that the only tools on hand were a knife and fork. Add to that his ascendency in the early aughts as the most successful—and hairiest—member of the Freak Folk Movement; it was a rare review that didn’t call him hirsute (a word precious few have ever uttered aloud), focusing more on his straggly, unkempt beard and shock of dark hair than on the lo-fi brilliance of his mystical and mercurial songs.