Devendra Banhart Plans 'Destruction and Suffering' Before Recording New Material

Before heading to the UK next month to open several dates for Arcade Fire, Devendra Banhart will play a one-off show at the Los Angeles Museum of Contemporary Art's annual gala, dubbed "The Artist's Museum Happening." The event takes place Saturday, Nov. 13, and also includes musical performances from Beck and Caetano Veloso. The neo-hippie rocker is one of 146 L.A.-based artists whose work is collected in a current MOCA exhibition honoring those who have shaped the city's cultural landscape.

It's just over a year since the California-based Banhart released his major label debut, 'What Will We Be,' and he tells Spinner that he's only just begun to scratch the surface of what he wants to do musically. "I still haven't made the music I want to make. That's why I keep making music," he says. "I haven't gone to the place and made the music I want to make."

This sounds exciting both for the artist and his fans. "It is exciting," Banhart agrees. "Each time [I make a record], a little snippet comes into focus of what the direction is. Essentially, I'd like to make music like Alice Coltrane," he says, referring to the late spiritual jazz musician. "That's my dream. But that takes a lot of time. That takes a lot of destruction in order to make it."

Destruction? "Yeah or suffering," Banhart muses. "Deconstruction and annihilation of certain things. Renouncing certain things and a certain kind of openness and withdrawal into a certain place," the 29-year-old riffs, clearly on a roll.

"The smaller things get, the more they look like the universe," he adds. "An atom and all these protons and electrons spinning around look like Saturn or supernovas. That's all going into things and you come out the other end. It's that kind of process, a spiritual metamorphosis that I'm not even close to embarking on. But at least I know I want to -- which is nice."