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Gig Review

Damon & Naomi
Rough Trade East instore

Article written by Ged M - May 22, 2011

Unable for work reasons to get to Café Oto the following night, I catch Damon and Naomi, with Michio Kurihawa, at Rough Trade East. It’s not packed but the crowd – partly indie fans, partly those with an artistic bent, a couple of Japanese people who could be either – seems to sum up the cult status of Damon and Naomi. I’d ascribe that cult to the fierce intelligence of the pair, the introspection of the lyrics and the intimacy of their performance.

They start with the wonderful 'Walking Backwards', which is unusually upbeat for them, and a single listen will velcro it to your brain. If there's a Damon & Naomi song you can hum on the way to the bus stop, that's the one. Damon is in bantering mood too, full of funny observations (like announcing to a Glasgow crowd the previous evening that their new album had been released "in England"). Tonight he's playing acoustic guitar but he's the drummer for the regular dates on the current tour, while Naomi plays keyboards. Kurihawa, as ever, stands impassive and allows his guitar to speak for him. One of joys of seeing this band in a live setting is in understanding how he makes the sounds that he does; I'm no muso but he's a spectacularly understated and underrated guitarist and creates the most haunting noises. The band acknowledge the Japanese earthquake/ tsunami by playing 'Ueno', named for the Tokyo station serving Northern Japan, and there’s a plug for Michio's fund-raising efforts. To confound things again, they finish with the Stones' 'Shine a Light', a more acidic take on the song perhaps but still a buoyant way to end. A fine time is clearly being had by band and crowd alike, and it's a good advert for the band, the excellent new album, and for the independent record sector which hosted the instore.

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