Love

Amen Dunes is the work of Brooklyn-based musician Damon McMahon. Though his previous albums have been largely solo performances, Love is produced by Godspeed You! Black Emperor’s Dave Bryant and Efrim Menuck and features the additional support of some longtime friends—drummer Parker Kindred and Jordi Wheeler on guitar and piano—along with Colin Stetson on sax and occasional vocals from Iceage’s Elias Bender Ronnenfelt (on “Lonely Richard” and “Green Eyes”). The nearest comparison might be Bonnie "Prince" Billy, who often works a similarly obscure method to get the desired recording effect. “Everybody Is Crazy,” in particular, sounds like a gorgeous lost BPB track. “I Can’t Dig It” uses a deliberately lo-fi approach and sounds like a bootleg recording of a band playing in a cavernous hall. The remaining songs settle into a modest, mystical tone, with the piano-based “Sixteen” sounding as wired as Daniel Johnston and the acoustic “I Know Myself” offering a calmer view.