Damon Krukowski and Naomi Yang are such a gentle and ghostly presence at the Alt. Rock feast that you’d probably wouldn’t have noticed that a lengthy four years have elapsed since their previous album – the sombre ‘Within These Walls’ – slipped into the marketplace.
However, while it brought no ‘new’ music as such, those four years yielded important critical re-appraisal for Damon and Naomi. Firstly, their much-admired first solo album ‘More Sad Hits’ was re-issued, then the retrospective ‘Sub Pop Years’ collection appeared and finally all three of their studio albums with the seminal Galaxie 500 were granted the Domino Records re-issue treatment, bringing with them a fresh bunch of critical garlands from a new generation.
Thus, it’s the perfect time for DAMON AND NAOMI to finally unveil their new studio album – ‘False Beats & True Hearts’ – and celebrate a staggering 25 years of working together into the process. Guitarist Michio Kurihara’s elegant and startling guitar playing again features (he’s worked with D&N since 2000’s ‘With Ghost’) and overall this new album sounds like something of a renaissance.
Certainly there are a few pleasant surprises. Opening track ‘Walking Backwards’ sounds unusually sprightly and poppy by Damon and Naomi’s ethereal standards, but – even allowing for Kurihara’s jarring fuzz-box guitar - its’ lush and beguiling full band sound captivates from the outset. Tracks like ‘Ophelia’ and ‘What She Brings’ also have a spring in their step and their desire to embrace a distinctly (if typically dreamy) Pop-addled sound is infectious.
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Not that the plangent loveliness inherent in most of Damon & Naomi’s music is absent, mind. Delicate, but determined ballads like ‘How Do I Say Goodbye’ and ‘Shadow Boxing’ reflect Naomi’s new found love of the piano and also stitch graceful woodwind into their music’s rich tapestry, while ‘And There You Are’ could almost be a more hymnal-sounding take of Galaxie 500’s fragile beauty. More typically sparse set pieces like ‘Helsinki’ and the gossamer beauty of ‘Nettles & Ivy’ are the exceptions rather than the rule but they’re no less lovely for all that.
Damon and Naomi have long since perfected the art of the understated masterpiece, but with ‘False Beats & True Hearts’ they have made subtle steps towards a richer, more Pop-oriented sound without sacrificing the intimacy at the core of their work.As both a jubilee celebration and a signpost to the future, this one happily passes muster.
Damon and Naomi online
Broken Horse Records online
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