I came upon Amen Dunes when my copy of The Unified Field Collective came in the mail. Inspired by Wallace
Berman, the magazine/ journal brings together different artists, musicians and
writers who touch on the transitions between the primal and the academic.
Included
in this 60-page color printed journal is a clear 10” vinyl with songs by Robin
Pecknold of Fleet Foxes, Bonnie “Prince” Billy, Department of Eagles – a
Grizzly Bear side project – and Amen Dunes.
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Damon McMahon started his solo project
of Amen Dunes in 2006 with home recordings onto tape. They never made their way
out. He then moved from upstate NY to China, only occasionally writing music.
In 2009, he released DIA and came
back to the states with another release in 2010, the Murder Dull Mind EP, made up of home recordings done in China. His
latest, Through Donkey Jaw, was recorded
in 2011 on Sacred Bones Records, and is his first full length release.
Amen Dunes opened for Godspeed You!
Black Emperor last Saturday at the Majestic Theatre.
I was unable to attend that
show so I snuck away to the secret Ann Arbor show at The 3rd Death
Star on Tuesday, where he played with local bands Monogamy, K9 Sniffies, and
Protomartyr.
When Damon took the stage at this
basement show it was, as he reminded us, “incredibly intimate.”
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There were
maybe 20 people as opposed to his previous show with a sold-out 800. The quiet hum of his music filled the room
with a feeling and sway of repetitive chants and introspective words you can
barely make out. In a recent interview he did say that as difficult as his
lyrics were to decipher, he did want them to be “heard”, so he’s included a
lyric sheet in Through Donkey Jaw to
help us all out.
“Bedroom Drum” and “Baba Yaga”, my favorite
songs on the new record, are both very dream-like, with lo-fi fuzz and echoes
that build into the noise and tangles of the mind. Introspective and real, he’s
often compared to Syd Barrett, whom I love, so it comes as no surprise that I’m
drawn to Damon’s work.
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I spoke with him after the show and
shared my recent discovery of his beautiful songs, and he recommended MDM because of my initial interest in “Sixteen,”
the demo found on the Field Collective
vinyl. The EP is more loose and
experimental than his latest LP, but just the start of my shiny, new discovery.
Words / Photos by Esme McClear