Devendra Banhart searches for hope on ‘Flying Wig’

Devendra Banhart is one of the sharpest minds and polished songwriters you’ll ever meet. Despite what feels like effortless songwriting, Banhart wants you to know every word has been considered.

Notebooks full of lyrics that are honed over through meticulous editing cut right to the heart of the matter. It’s appropriate, then, on his new album, Flying Wig, that Banhart took inspiration from a haiku from Japanese poet Kobayashi Issa. The haiku, with its 17 syllables, can condense a lifetime of emotion into three short lines.

In this session, Banhart’s in studio to play songs from the Cate Le Bon-produced album. He’ll talk about the Grateful Dead‘s surprising influence on the album, why it’s not as dramatic of a musical departure as people think — and, yes, you’ll hear the haiku that helped give life to Flying Wig.