Playback Singers

by Jason AnkenyIf you tuned out Damon & Naomi after a pair of disappointing solo LPs and a series of rather aimless records as one half of the Magic Hour, Playback Singers is a great chance to get reacquainted -- it's easily their best full-length effort to date, with a haunting beauty recalling the glory days of the Galaxie 500 era. Where so often before the duo's songs evaporated in the mists of their atmospheric production, each track here possesses a form and shape that lends the music a much-needed gravitational center -- for all of their ghostly ambience, highlights like "Turn of the Century" and "In the Sun" also resonate on a deeper emotional level, achieving a finely wrought balance between sound and spirit.