Playback Singers

Damon & Naomi were always too smart to be seduced by ideas of ‘purity’ – their music’s always been syncretic in some ways. But Playback Singers certainly gestures towards the idea of essence. This is the first time they’d recorded a full album together as just a duo, without production help from outsiders, and it shows; it’s as though a fog has been lifted from the music, and the duo’s songs are all that’s left standing, naked yet unafraid. The last time they recorded this way was the Pierre Etoile EP, and a new version of “In The Sun” from that EP makes the connection explicit; even better are a clutch of acid-folk originals that are their most confident songs yet: the melancholy yearning of “Turn of the Century”; the way “Eye of the Storm” takes to the air on flecked guitar. Covers of songs by Ghost and Pearls Before Swine round things out, and make clear who Damon & Naomi consider to be their peers. A beautiful, intimate album.