{^Cripple Crow} marks a departure for {$Devendra Banhart}. It's obvious from the faux {^Sgt. Pepper}-meets-{$Incredible String Band} freak scene cover photo that something is afoot. The disc is {$Banhart}'s first foray from {$Michael Gira}'s {@Young God} label, and it's more adventurous than anything he's done before. This is not to imply that the set is a slick, over-produced affair, but it is a significant change. The instrumental, stylistic, and textural range on this 23-song set is considerably wider than it's been in the past. Working with {$Noah Georgeson} and {$Thom Monahan}, a backing band of friends known as "{$the Hairy Fairies}", {$Banhart}'s crafted something expansive, colorful, and perhaps even accessible to a wider array of listeners. There are layered vocals and choruses of backing singers, as well as piano and flutes on the gorgeous {&"I Heard Somebody Say,"} while the electric guitar and drums fuelling {&"Long Haired Child,"} with its reverb-drenched backing vocals, is primitive, percussive, and dark. There is also the 21st century {\psychedelic} {\jug band} stomp of the second single, {&"I Feel Just Like a Child,"} that crosses the {\nursery rhyme} melodics of {$Mississippi John Hurt} with the naughty boy swagger of {$Marc Bolan}. There are also five songs in Spanish, {$Banhart}'s native tongue, in a style that's a cross between {\flamenco} and {\son}. The title cut, {&"Cripple Crow,"} is one of the most haunting anti-war songs around. In it, {$Banhart} places a new generation in the firing line, and urges them to resist not with violence, but with pacifistic refusal. A lone acoustic guitar, hand drums, a backing chorus, and a lilting, muted flute all sift in with one another to weave a song that feels more like a prayer. The lone cover here, of {$Simon Diaz}'s {&"Luna de Margaerita,"} drips with the rawest kind of emotion. Ultimately, {^Cripple Crow} is a roughly stitched tapestry; it is rich, varied, wild, irreverent, simple, and utterly joyous to listen to. ~ Thom Jurek, All Music Guide