Devendra Banhart's unique sounds coming to The Ark

So, no surprise that, for the first six years of his career, Banhart's cosmic, sometimes inscrutable lyrics and experimental music-making has found its way to his underground following via independent labels — which are only too happy to cater to fervent fans, even though the artist isn't selling boatloads of records.

One can imagine the furrowed brows among the psych-folk cultists when they heard that Banhart, who comes to The Ark on Tuesday, Nov. 17, had signed with a major label — the giant Warner Bros. Records, no less.

But on his new album, "What Will We Be," the still-idiosyncratic Banhart continues to let his freak flag fly — although his more "ideologically pure" fans will likely think that the new disc sounds more mainstream than his previous work. The production values are a bit more crisp, and he lets his band loose on a electro-funk track, a wooly psychedelic rocker and even a tune that's an homage to glam rock/art rock heroes Roxy Music. (He even name-checks Roxy in the title.)

Many of the songs on "What Will We Be" reveal that Banhart is still an inquisitive experimentalist, however. "Chin Chin & Muck Muck," for example, shifts gears from bopping swing to torch balladry to world-music chanting. And "Angelika" intersperses Latin styles (Banhart spent several years as a child living in Venezuela), sultry jazz and '70s-era folk-rock. (A few of the tunes are sung in Spanish, as Banhart gets back in touch with that aspect of his roots.)

The psycho-bluesy, lizard-kingly "Rats" finds Banhart conjuring a Doors vibe, while also channeling some of Frank Zappa's proggy intensity. And the aforementioned Roxy tribute — "16th and Valencia, Roxy Music," is a deadpan glammy vamp that tweaks some of the sonic and ironic twists favored by its namesake band.

In short, Banhart has delivered a record that, while still experimental in many ways, is also more melodically accessible — and more welcoming to newcomers.

One effusive Banhart fan is Dan Klyn, a University of Michigan graduate and former Ann Arbor resident who still teaches part-time for the university's School of Information, although he and his wife moved to Hudsonville, near Grand Rapids, three years ago.

Klyn first became aware of Banhart in ’04, via the web site for Young God Records, Banhart’s original label. “M Gira, the label’s founder, had posted a lengthy and gushing description and some sample clips of the label’s label's newest acquisition at the time — this seemingly-homeless and/or crazy person named Devendra Banhart,” recalls Klyn. “After hearing 20 seconds of the song ‘This is the Way,’ I was hooked.

”I love his music — the simple beauty of the melodies, the surrealistic wordplay, the lack — or seeming lack — of cynicism or ‘shtick,.’” says Kyln admiringly “I think there was a moment when I listened to ‘Rejoicing In The Hands’ (Banhart’s ’04 album) for the first time, all the way through, where I worried, or wondered about, the apparent naivete of his sound and whether it was just part of the ‘act.’

“I hope to finally put that question to rest by finally seeing him play live,” says Klyn. “But my hunch is that he's the real thing, so I can’t pass up an opportunity to see him play a great, intimate venue like The Ark.”

As for Banhart signing to a big label like Warner Bros.: Banhart knows full well that his eclectic, multi-ethnic, folk-rock sound is regarded as more exotic and esoteric than most of the more commercially-conscious acts on major labels. But he recently told Billboard Magazine that Warner was “the only ones who offered to let me do what I want” — and that the record was already almost completed before he shopped it around.

For someone as committed to his own offbeat vision as Banhart, a key factor in choosing a label, obviously, was finding one that wouldn’t make changes to the music, he confirmed. “You think an indie, yeah, they just let you do anything, and you’re in control,” he continued. “But I think with the birth of a new business model in the music industry, it’s led to the majors to actually be kind of humbled. So I was shocked that they were treating me like the indies when they were meeting with me — and the indies were talking to me like a major.”

Banhart now lives in the Los Angeles area, but he recorded the new disc in a sleepy Northern California town where the late counter-culture writer Richard Brautigan once worked. Banhart has declined to divulge the name of the town when talking to the press — because he promised the town’s residents he’d keep it quiet, so as not to encourage his fans to make a pilgrimage there.

“But I had started re-reading Brautigan’s books again, and I wanted to record in the same town where he worked,” Banhart told New York Magazine earlier this month. “I’ve done that with a lot of my records. Like, for my album ‘Cripple Crow,’ I wanted to go where (Louisiana R&B artist) Bobby Charles had worked. It’s like re-visiting old friends for me.”

PREVIEW Devendra Banhart Who: Young artist who became the flag-bearer of the “freak-folk” movement in the mid-‘00s. What: Melodic but often-experimental mix of folk, Latin, psychedelic rock and funk. When: Tuesday, Nov. 17, 8 p.m. Where: The Ark, 316 S. Main St., Ann Arbor. How much: $29.50. Details: 734-761-1451; The Ark web site

Kevin Ransom, a free lance writer and critic who covers music for AnnArbor.com, previously wrote about Devendra Banhart in 2006. He can be reached at KevinRansom10@aol.com.

Devendra Banhart performs "Chin Chin & Muck Muck" earlier this year in San Francisco: