Amen Dunes – “Lonely Richard”

There’s something bittersweet about Amen Dunes (aka Damon McMahon) that’s kind of hard to explain. Words weave in and out of his songs so that you can grab onto a phrase here and there, but overall lyrical structures are evasive. You can try and derive meaning this way, but I find it’s best to surrender to the atmospheric nature of the music and hear the Damon’s voice as just another instrument in the mix.

I realize that doesn’t explain the bittersweet-ness I teased above, but I think the video for “Lonely Richard” explains it best by example.

McMahon on the video “it’s about drugs on earth and drugs in heaven, and all the traveling in between.”

You should check Amen Dunes’ newest album Love if you like the song above. McMahon put together a core band to make the record and also collaborated with Colin Stetson and members of Godspeed You! Black Emperor on it. It’s cohesive and moving and out now on Sacred Bones Records.

The band is also on tour:

AMEN DUNES’ TOUR DATES:
Fri. Nov. 21 – Brussels, BE @ Maison Des Musiques
Sat. Nov. 22 – Rotterdam, NL @ Rowton
Sun. Nov. 23 – Utrecht, NL @ Le Guess Who?
Tue. Nov. 25 – Paris, FR @ Le Point Ephemere
Wed. Nov. 26 – London, UK @ 100 Club
Thu. Nov. 27 – Cologne, DE @ The Week-End Festival
Fri. Nov. 28 – Berlin, DE @ Monarch
Sat. Nov. 29 – Leuwaarden, NL @ Explore the North Festival
Thu. Jan. 22 – New York, NY @ Bowery Ballroom w/ Kevin Morby, Nude Beach
Fri. March 27 – Knoxville, TN @ Big Ears Festival