Devendra Banhart has never hurt for an outlet to
address his weirdest impulses— after all, this is an artist whose regular
albums have no problem absorbing lyrics about psychedelic squids and marriage
to little boys—but he goes quite a bit weirder than usual in Megapuss. The name accounts for
the collaboration between Banhart and Priestbird's Greg Rogove, both of whom
sing and bang out a nimble mix of time-tucked rock on a debut album with lots
of strange, surprising rewards.
It isn't long before Banhart trills in service of
fanciful creatures in "Duck People, Duck Man," a song that could have been sung
by those Spongmonkey things in the Quiznos commercials. But just as prominent
on Surfing
is a sense of musical adventurousness more engrossing than any on Banhart
albums in the past. Rock (not folk) from the 1960s sets the scene in many of
the best songs with electric guitars and full-on drums, and then little ideas
creep in—like an ingenious guitar solo that pays tribute to Wham (in "Adam
& Steve") and haunting impressions of "(Don't Fear) The Reaper" buried
beneath the verses of "Hamman."
The all-over aesthetic doesn't always work: The
title track sounds like warmed-over Animal Collective in ambient repose, and
then toss-offs like the 25-second "Mister Meat (Hot Rejection)" make too little
of the notion of singing from the vantage point of a penis. But then the
bewitching mood of highlights like the piano ballad "Sayulita" swoop down and
save the day.