Damon & Naomi with Ghost (Sub Pop)

Damon & Naomi with Ghost

(Sub Pop)

The music of Massachussetts-based duo Damon & Naomi is not difficult to resist. Their unsteady, ethereal vocals and fragmented lyrics of gentle longing applied to slow, slow melodies do not demand nor even ask very loudly for your attention. But to succumb to a Damon & Naomi record, like this newest project with Japanese band Ghost, is to feel the true power in a whisper. Formerly two-thirds of the questionably legendary Galaxie 500, the duo has stayed ever true to the soft simplicity and eerie suggestion that made that band's amateurism so appealing, though their depth as musicians, songwriters, singers (they share all duties) have bloomed. The songs on ...with Ghost are far more dynamic than their previous work (brilliant in itself), due no doubt to the presence and input of the three Ghost members, who add acoustic and electric guitars and key-boards, as well as proffer arrangements that prove Masaki Batoh's penchant for the gorgeous quietude that Damon & Naomi have staked out as their territory. The vocal trade-off on opener "The Mirror Phase" makes it plain there is a deceptive but unmistakable depth to both their voices, the insistent surge on the second and fourth beats building an urgency and passion into the tune's loping cadence. Naomi Yang's ever-wistful singing makes "The Great Wall" a heartbreaking lesson in restraint and release, and is not at all out of place as the later "Tanka" rises to a lengthy cacophony of electric guitar. Exquisite. Submit willingly.