Send "Damon & Naomi " Ringtones to your Cell 
| Pitchfork |
 Damon Krukowski and Naomi Yang are still most often celebrated as the rhythm section of Galaxie 500, two decades after that beloved group's demise. Perhaps then it is important to note that False Beats and True Hearts is the fourth studio album the duo has recorded in collaboration with guitarist Michio Kurihara, of the psych-folk Japanese powerhouse Ghost. This means that Damon & Naomi have now officially created more music with Kurihara than they ever did with Dean Wareham in Galaxie 500, and over a considerably longer stretch of time. So it seems accurate to say that this, then, is their true music: hushed, vibrant folk-rock punctuated by discreet electric guitar and quiet horns, all of which bear only the most passing resemblance to vintage Galaxie 500.In the time since Damon & Naomi's previous studio album, 2007's Within These Walls, the duo has kept itself characteristically busy. They've toured the world, released the video anthology 1001 Nights and the best-of compilation The Sub Pop Years, and overseen a lavish reissue of the Galaxie 500 catalog on their own 20/20/20 imprint. Given all that activity, it is somewhat surprising to hear how little has changed sonically on False Beats and True Hearts, and the album can give the impression that Damon & Naomi have used the recording process as a way to exhale and re-center themselves creatively. It's interesting to observe the range of sounds that have now become a regular presence in the duo's work. There was a time when it would have seemed wholly out of character for a Damon & Naomi album to open with a trebly burst of psychedelic guitar, or for one of their songs to feature a languid saxophone solo. But over the course of their past several albums, these elements have become such a familiar component of their music that here at times the duo can sound a bit too comfortable. In addition to Kurihara, the album features guest spots by Ghost's leader Masaki Batoh, trumpet player Greg Kelley, and multi-instrumentalist Bhob Rainey, and there are points where Damon & Naomi's quiet vocals and thoughtful lyrics risk getting lost within their own lush accompaniment....full text |
| Adequacy |
| Although some still may mourn the short life and abrupt passing of Galaxie 500 – with last year’s back catalogue reissues no doubt exacerbating such feelings – it’s arguable that the split was ultimately creatively beneficial to the threesome in their subsequent creative roles. Hence Dean Wareham was able to take his distinctive tones, gifted guitar-playing and adaptable songwriting from the divorce to form Luna and build a subsequent art-pop duo with Britta Phillips, whilst Damon Krukowksi and Naomi Yang retained the band’s predilection for higher-register vocals, ethereal atmospherics and less traditional musicality for redeployment and expansion as a conjoined two-headed enterprise. Certainly though, Damon & Naomi’s post-Galaxie endeavours have been less openly assessed and recognised than Wareham’s, even though a rich seven album run has already marked the married couple out as commendably uncorrupted and stoically independent. But such strong characteristics have also upheld daunting barriers. So it’s not been easy to visit their world without feeling overwhelmed in knowing where to start, with the absence of certain albums that emphatically demand more attention than others. They’ve come close before though – with 1992’s recently reissued duo debut More Sad Hits, 1998’s elegantly intimate Playback Singers and 2005’s elaborately orchestrated The Earth Is Blue – in nailing down the essence of what can make them so captivating. This latest and eighth LP can be added to that list of Damon & Naomi albums that almost act as defining standalone statements. “Walking Backwards” – the opening track and preceding single – will undoubtedly help make False Beats And True Hearts seem like a place to point both the novice and the misplaced older fan. Being possibly the most unrepentant and hook-laden Galaxie 500-like torch anthem in their canon, the song fuses lush layered harmonies to psychedelic guitar soloing – from returning and well-used guest string-bender Michio Kurihara of Ghost – to rapturous and memorable effect. In its wake, the long-player takes on a more relaxed but still inviting approach, with the duo playing to their individual and combined strengths....full text |
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