Dreamy indie folk duo
Damon & Naomi's relationship with Japanese psychedelic institution
Ghost stretches back to their first live performances and their immaculate 2000 collaborative album
Damon & Naomi with Ghost. The two entities complement each other nicely, with
Damon & Naomi's hushed beauty weaving into the slightly harder edges of
Ghost's softly acid-washed sounds. At some point
Ghost guitarist
Michio Kurihara became
Damon & Naomi's unofficial third member, and the three players reactivate their chemistry for
A Sky Record. Following a Japanese tour in November of 2019, the three friends entered a studio in Tokyo and recorded the instrumentals that would eventually become
A Sky Record. Shortly thereafter, the earliest phases of the COVID-19 lockdown began, and back in the states,
Damon & Naomi ruminated on how strange the passing of time felt in quarantine, funneling the uneasiness and stillness of their new reality into the lyrics for these new songs. Opening track "Oceans in Between" is one of the album's strongest and most straightforward tracks, with
Naomi Yang singing simple, graceful melodies with just a hint of sadness over a backdrop of gentle acoustic guitars and glittering electric guitar ornamentation from
Kurihara. The doleful "Sailing By" is similar, with
Damon Krukowski singing lead over an instrumental not too far removed from the slow-paced melodic drifting that made
Galaxie 500 so captivating.
Kurihara's presence sometimes pushes the songs from sleepy reflection into more psychedelic territory. The shadowy "Between the Wars" is guided by his laser-pointer guitar leads, and album standouts "How I Came to Photograph Clouds" and "The Aftertime" are both slow-building anthems of pastoral acid folk, held together by
Kurihara's tasteful playing.
Damon & Naomi's gifts for crafting subtle and atmospheric dream pop have been apparent since their earliest days, but there's a heightened sense of disquiet that flows throughout
A Sky Record. It's a unique document of reflections a time that felt suspended, and at points its sadly beautiful atmospheres feel outside of time completely. ~ Fred Thomas
