More Sad Hits

Their first full-length after the acrimonious split of Galaxie 500, Damon & Naomi’s More Sad Hits makes a virtue of change. It’s incremental change, mind you – the haziness of Kramer’s production (lost in the ghosts of reverb) and the misty visions of the duo’s strummed guitar isn’t too far from the mothership. But there’s something lovely about hearing Damon Krukowski and Naomi Yang wrest full control of their music and share their sensibilities in a more direct way. Some of the more mesmeric moments here – the driving repetition of “This Car Climbed Mt. Washington,” for example – points towards the psych-rock expansiveness of their next group, Magic Hour; the covers alternate between the wistfully lovely (Hugh Hopper’s “Memories,” by way of Robert Wyatt) and the winkingly camp (Claudine Longet’s “This Changing World”).