Damon Krukowski and Naomi Yang are still most often celebrated as the rhythm section of Galaxie 500, two decades after that beloved group's demise. Perhaps then it is important to note that False Beats and True Hearts is the fourth studio album the duo has recorded in collaboration with guitarist Michio Kurihara, of the psych-folk Japanese powerhouse Ghost. This means that Damon & Naomi have now officially created more music with Kurihara than they ever did with Dean Wareham in Galaxie 500, and over a considerably longer stretch of time. So it seems accurate to say that this, then, is their true music: hushed, vibrant folk-rock punctuated by discreet electric guitar and quiet horns, all of which bear only the most passing resemblance to vintage Galaxie 500.
In the time since Damon & Naomi's previous studio album, 2007's Within These Walls, the duo has kept itself characteristically busy. They've toured the world, released the video anthology 1001 Nights and the best-of compilation The Sub Pop Years, and overseen a lavish reissue of the Galaxie 500 catalog on their own 20/20/20 imprint. Given all that activity, it is somewhat surprising to hear how little has changed sonically on False Beats and True Hearts, and the album can give the impression that Damon & Naomi have used the recording process as a way to exhale and re-center themselves creatively.
It's interesting to observe the range of sounds that have now become a regular presence in the duo's work. There was a time when it would have seemed wholly out of character for a Damon & Naomi album to open with a trebly burst of psychedelic guitar, or for one of their songs to feature a languid saxophone solo. But over the course of their past several albums, these elements have become such a familiar component of their music that here at times the duo can sound a bit too comfortable. In addition to Kurihara, the album features guest spots by Ghost's leader Masaki Batoh, trumpet player Greg Kelley, and multi-instrumentalist Bhob Rainey, and there are points where Damon & Naomi's quiet vocals and thoughtful lyrics risk getting lost within their own lush accompaniment.
Damon & Naomi's recent archival activity has provided listeners with an excellent opportunity to investigate their entire musical timeline. The tempos have always been slow, and the volume still tends towards the hushed and intimate, but the overall texture of their music has undergone a gradual change. In Galaxie 500's music, Dean Wareham's voice and guitar, Naomi's melodic bass, and Damon's drums were each given a distinctive role to play, and each stood out in relative isolation in the group's spare production. On False Beats and True Hearts, however, the instruments are allowed to casually blur into one another, with acoustic guitars and piano and reeds uniting to create a single dense weave as Kurihara's hypnotic guitar soars in and out above everything. It's an inviting sound, yet one that often sacrifices sonic fireworks in favor of a general atmosphere of enveloping warmth.
Beneath the album's placid surfaces there is a subtle but persistent tug of melancholy. The Naomi-sung "How Do I Say Goodbye" is a direct song of loss and mourning, and nearly every track on the album references the silent passing of time and the invisible power of memory and nostalgia. "The past is who we are but not what we may become," Damon sings on "Ophelia", articulating the theme of acceptance that echoes throughout the album. In typical fashion, Damon & Naomi's lyrics on False Beats and True Hearts read very well on the page but don't necessarily lend themselves to immediately memorable choruses or hooks. As with their other work with Michio Kurihara, False Beats and True Hearts is a slow bloom, an album whose rewards can become fully apparent only through thoughtful immersion.
