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Album Review

Damon and Naomi
False Beats and True Hearts Broken Horse Records

Article written by Ged M - May 27, 2011

Damon and Naomi: False Beats and True Hearts

This is a surprisingly upbeat way of marking 25 years of Mr Kruskowski and Ms Yang performing together. Their new record doesn’t focus as much on the introspective, melancholic sound that we’ve grown slowly to love, like a relationship that starts in friendship and admiration and evolves into something deeper and more soulful. Instead it opens with the definitive statement of ‘Walking Backwards’, with Michio Kurihawa’s guitar firing off psychedelic flares, and a honeyed melody that installs it immediately in the memory.

Of course, there’s plenty of poetry and contemplation too, with their trademark intimacy splashed across songs like ‘Helsinki’ but, with Kurihawa’s elegant guitar playing (excellent on the lovely and shimmering ‘What She Brings’), the whole record sounds more open and joyful than you’d perhaps expect of Damon and Naomi. Their use of textures, like trumpet on ‘Shadow Boxing’ and Naomi’s new fondness for piano on the dreamy acid-folk of ‘Nettles and Ivy’, places them at a distance from the “sad songs” stereotype that has perhaps grown up around them. The four year break since the last album has revitalised their sound and ensures that False Beats and True Hearts stands with their best solo material, and even compares favourably with the canon of Galaxie 500.

Links:
http://www.damonandnaomi.com
http://www.brokenhorse.co.uk
http://www.20-20-20.com