Fun Fact.1

mp3

Playback Singers

1 - Turn of the Century (6:58)
2 - Eye of the Storm (5:12)
3 - In the Sun (3:01)
4 - The Navigator (4:38)
5 - I’m Yours (5:44)
6 - Kinetoscope (4:40)
7 - Awake in a Muddle (3:39)
8 - We’re Not There (5:07)
9 - Translucent Carriages (4:25)

All instruments and vocals by Damon Krukowski and Naomi Yang
Recorded at home, 1996-97
"Compromising quality of reproduction for the sake of nostalgia"

Damon & Naomi recorded Playback Singers in their home studio, the first
time they had produced their own recordings since the Pierre Etoile EP.
In another departure, Damon & Naomi went on the road behind the release,
touring for the first time as a duo. Stephin Merritt previewed one of the shows
on that tour with characteristic aplomb:

"I sat beside Damon and Naomi at a screening of the classic underground
drag movie Flaming Creatures, which is very beautiful and very, very slow.
As most of the audience gradually trickled out or fell asleep, Damon and
Naomi got more intrigued, till by the end of the event-free film they wore
beatific smiles. Soon afterward, they started their book-publishing company,
Exact Change, which published Kafka ephemera and John R. Stilgoe's
Shallow-Water Dictionary, a paean to marshes and estuaries.

"So, years before hearing their music, I could visualize exactly what they were
going to sound like: like Kafka, Kafka père and Josef K in drag, pulling a
rowboat slowly and quietly through chartreuse reeds in the gray dawn.
Not unlike their previous band, Galaxie 500.

"On their new CD, Playback Singers (Sub Pop), recorded at home on digital
eight-track, Naomi brings breathy singing to new plateaus, and Damon sings
much like Neil Young slowed down. A few guitars, mostly acoustic, a little
harmonium, noodling bass and occasional light percussion fill in the long
pauses between such languidly intoned phrases as 'It's so hard being me.'
The undemanding lyrics are as vague and filled with water, shadows,
reflections and air. Those who think Nick Drake was a speed freak will love it,
and those who like to fall asleep to music will never hear the last song,
Tom Rapp's lovely 'Translucent Carriages.'

"In concert, Damon and Naomi perform unaccompanied, sounding even more
bare than their records and just as languorous. They are probably the
quietest rock group in the United States, and the second slowest (after Flare).
Those industry insiders who like to carry on conversations to music should
stay away."