Damon & Naomi: Damon & Naomi With Ghost

Dean Wareham still gets most of the credit for Galaxie 500, but that band owed just as much (if not more) to the rhythm section of Damon Krukowski and Naomi Yang. It was Yang's humming, melodic bass that gave Galaxie 500 its distinctive character, while Krukowski's spare, echoing drums provided its atmosphere. While Wareham has found greater success with the more ornate Luna, Krukowski and Yang have remained dedicated to Galaxie 500's sound in their own ongoing projects, regularly rewarding the faithful with languid, spooky music. It's appropriate, then, that the pair has hooked up with Japan's psychedelic sort-of-folk-rock group Ghost. Not surprisingly, the two groups make sympathetic partners, though few might have guessed that the results would be as subtly gorgeous as Damon And Naomi With Ghost. "New World," written by Yang and Ghost's Masaki Batoh, sounds like an outtake from After The Goldrush-era Neil Young adorned with samples of Buddhist monks, while a cover of Alex Chilton's "Blue Moon" intentionally plays up its childlike tone. (Oddly enough, "Judah & The Maccabees" sounds like it was drawn from Big Star's third album.) "I Dreamed Of The Caucasus" might be the only song to shake itself from the album's self-imposed slumber, but the music still seems filtered through gauze. This slow, hazy, head-in-the-clouds music has a way of leaving sonic cobwebs long after it's over, the melodies lingering like distant memories.