Alternative artist Devendra Banhart has shared his most recent single off of his upcoming album Flying Wig, out September 22 via Mexican Summer. The song is the second single off of the album, following “Twins,” which was released earlier this summer.
Of the track, Banhart says, “‘Sirens’ is about the bewilderment that precedes longing, the space between ‘everything hurts’ and ‘oh there’s a nail stuck in my back,’ It’s like the relief mixed with fear that comes from finally finding the target. We haven’t hit it yet—but we know where to aim, that’s where the ‘And Yet’-ness of this song is.”
The track also comes with a video in collaboration with Christian Stavros and directed by Joseph Wasilewski. Of the video, Banhart comments, “We wanted to make a mini sci fi film that was equally dystopian and utopian. What we came up with was a world where only artists are allowed to run for any government positions, the presidency is always shared between two people. In our world, two legends won, Tim Heidecker and Mitra Jouhari, and in this world, everyone’s a masseuse, and massages are mandatory, and crying is obligatory and enforced by law.”
The creative vision that Banhart exhibits in both the song and video is only a taste of what’s to come on Flying Wig. The album, produced by Cate Le Bon, provides another captivating installment of Banhart’s artistic mind. “It’s about transmuting despair into gratitude, wounds into forgiveness, grief into praise,” Banhart says.
Preorder Flying Wig here, and get tickets to see Devendra Banhart on tour here.
Photo courtesy of Dana Trippe
