Amen Dunes: Through Donkey Jaw

Label: Sacred Bones

There are "outdoor" records (especially in summer) and "indoor" records. The new Amen Dunes album is indoor and then some; Through Donkey Jaw is so internal that it feels a little awkward to play it in the store, where several people can hear it together. It just doesn't seem made for that kind of experience (headphones: yes). That said, while the album sounds like it comes from the innermost depths of Damon McMahon's being, it also exists in an enormous space: cavernous, multicolored if darkly hued, and deeply personal, with -- a few listens in -- worlds of feeling and emotion to reveal. With scant appearances by other musicians (identified by initials only), McMahon sketches out nocturnal musings in dramatic, sharp lines: searching vocals, low-ebb-lysergic guitar work and spare percussion; like another recent Sacred Bones release, by Religious Knives, the nature of the music itself seems to give off dark radiation. "Not a Slave" sounds a cry of solitary defiance, while "Lower Mind" and "Good Bad Dreams" are the kinds of outsider-mythic songs you'd hear on a radio in the middle of the night, changing lives one at a time. Highly recommended for the moodier types out there -- and hey, we love you, moody types.