When you're young and lonely and learning how to play the guitar, everyone has the same dream: you'll meet a kindred spirit that also plays guitar, and the two of you will fall in love and spend the rest of your days making beautiful music together. And then you'll have children, enough to form your own private death squad, and you'll teach them to become cold- blooded killing machines so that they may rid the world of those that conspire against you. Well, maybe it's just me. But that first part, that beautiful- music- together business, that's a dream that has been made real since the late '80s by Damon Krukowski and Naomi Yang, formerly as the rhythm section for Galaxie 500, and now as a duo.

No one is ever going to cover a Damon and Naomi song from because the songwriting is not the point-- their music is about generating slow, dreamy moods and textures, which are only partially successful on their own. Part of the problem could be the simplicity of the instrumentation. When your tempos move at the speed of an underfed koala on Thorazine, you need variety to keep your audience awake.

There's too much straight- ahead acoustic guitar for these slight melodies to come across, and Krukowski's jazz- influenced percussion is MIA throughout most of the record. The vocals are decent, if predictable-- Yang's is typically off- key and charming, and though Krukowski handles lead on a few, you'll barely notice, as his pinched falsetto sounds exactly like a less tuneful version of Naomi's pipes. Also, Playback Singers is Damon and Naomi's first album recorded without loony producer Kramer and his skyscraping bong in tow. Say what you will about the man's weed consumption, but Kramer's atmospheric messiness is missed here.

Playback Singers does have moments. "Eye of the Storm" is solid, with an eerily familiar "On Fire"- esque backwards guitar, and Yang's bass playing throughout is, as usual, a wonder. Her melodic lines (which function as leads in most of the songs) remain unique and instantly recognizable. In the end, while there are many pretty and arresting moments, the album is decidedly average. There are a lot of slowcore bands out there vying for your dollar, and many of them are simply more interesting than these two.

-Mark Richard-San