Devendra Banhart

“Pay attention to your breathing.”

“Green is one of my favorite colors.”

“It's all about sensitivity. If you have sensitivity then mysticism will be part of your life.”

“I might have some delusions of grandeur.”

“I don't think I'm getting better, quote unquote, as a singer or guitar player. But I'm more comfortable in this particular space. I get better at being a bad singer, so to speak.”

“My interested in Brazilian music stemmed from wanting to find a musical identity other than the salsa and meringue that I was inundated with in Venezuela as a child.”

“For a long time, soul music was maybe one of my favorite kinds of music.”

“I come from a school of artists, the Mission School in San Francisco, and there are a lot of artists I look up to.”

“I grew up around so much new agey stuff. Part of me takes it lightly because I'm so used to it. It was my parents. It wasn't some path I discovered and want to share with people. It's just been a very natural part of my life. There's humor to it and there's seriousness to it, too.”

“I like California a lot. There's a lot of space, but it's actually the most populated place in the nation.”

“I aspire to feel like a child, how about that!”

“Whether I'm on a major or an indie, I don't think this is important, but at the same time I do.”

“I support things that are very close to my heart: mostly LGBTQ rights.”

“I love Oasis.”

“I was born with a beard. We're quite hairy down in Latin America. We don't have to use sponges when we wash dishes. We just use our baby beards.”

“With music there's so many limbs and facets. Video and touring and merchandise and all those little things require attention. They're artist things but I tend to joke around too much with those things.”

“I don't make art to make money, I make art so I can make art.”

“I meditate.' That's like saying 'I eat.' Think of all the food there is! And there are almost as many varieties of mediation.”

“At 15 I discovered girls and '90s ska.”

“I've always lived in small places.”