Friday, October 26, 2007
Posted at
02:53
by
Will Spitz
Damon & Naomi are calling their current tour “The Roaring Silence Revue,” a reference to the combination of their own subdued-but-steely folk sound and the deep-bass noise-rock of their tourmates, Japanese trio Boris. D&N are working their new Within These Walls (20/20/20), and even though their first CD after the breakup of Galaxie 500 was called More Sad Hits, this might be the saddest yet, inspired, they say, by a year of digging into Frank Sinatra and the weepiest albums of his that they could find — Only the Lonely and No One Cares. Combine Ol’ Blue Eyes’ long, slow breath control and unsparing emotional delivery with D&N’s abiding passion for ’60s Brit folk-rock and you’ve got the picture: by the time you get to Naomi’s album closer, the goth mother-daughter psychodrama dialogue “Cruel Queen,” you’ll be crying in your chai latte. Along for the tour are longtime D&N aides-de-camp saxophonist Bhob Rainey, trumpeter Greg Kelley, guitarist Michio Kurihara, plus cellist Helena Espvall from the band Espers on cello. (All are on the new disc.) And Kurihara — the Neil Young of Japan — will do double-duty in both bands | Middle East downstairs, 480 Mass Ave, Cambridge | October 29 | 617.864.EAST.
— Jon Garelick
