Amen Dunes

Amen Dunes, the project of New York-based Damon McMahon, is releasing his most focused and substantial work yet with new album, Love. Unlike his previous albums, which were almost always a solo affair, Love was performed by a variety of musicians, including members of Godspeed You! Black Emperor (Dave Bryant and Efrim Menuck recorded the album), Colin Stetson (sax), Elias Bender Ronnenfelt of Iceage, and McMahon's longstanding collaborators, Jordi Wheeler (guitar and piano) and Parker Kindred (drums). Amen Dunes has always been rooted in traditional song and sound, but Love is his first work in which this so clearly shines through. The guiding influence of Astral Weeks, Sam Cooke, Tim Hardin, Marvin Gaye, Hector Lavoe, and the cosmic non-verbal mediations of Leon Thomas all kept vigil over the songwriting of Love, and the spirit of late 60's/early 70's spiritual jazz of Pharaoh Sanders and Alice Coltrane channeled the sound. These are elemental songs about time, love and memory, as much about the listener as they are about the writer: pure, open, and beautiful.

"Comprising just acoustic guitar, drifty piano taps, and an almost-subliminal percussive rumble, 'Lilac in Hand' is the sort of song that feels light and slight at first—that is, until you realize you're floating high up in the misty mountains 10,000 feet above sea level." - Pitchfork, April 2014