Hong Kong Ham

I’ve just spent an hour watching Eternal Children, a documentary about the freak folk scene. Featured in the video are Devendra Banhart, the Coco Rosie sisters, and Antony Hegarty from Antony and the Johnsons. It’s recommended viewing for anyone interested in some of the most wonderful, and wonderfully original, musicians around today. It also provides great insight into those figures.

Banhart comes across as a precocious young man with pot-inspired pop philosophy about the duality of man (etc, etc) as if he’s a first-year university student who just finished reading Heart of Darkness. His music rules; his wit, not as sharp.

The Coco Rosie girls come across as thoughtful but actually rather inarticulate. They speak greater volumes with their beautiful, layered harmonies and sonic mash-ups.

Hegarty, though, is my favourite. He is articulate and funny, and his style outstrips all others for originality, boldness, and downright get-up-and-whoop quality.

Watch the first part of the doco below and follow the links on YouTube for the other five parts.