Amen Dunes
Freedom

The return of Amen Dunes is something I welcome with pleasure, even if without great expectations, partly unmet in recent years and particularly by the previous and ambitious (the most acclaimed) "Love" (2014) which, while certainly pleasant, did not revisit the shamanism form of "Through Donkey Jaw" which I still consider as one of the best albums of this decade, turning instead towards more attractive pop-psychedelic formulas.

Damon McMahon took some time to define his latest album ("Freedom", Sacred Bones): he arrived there with three years of work and after practically discarding a year of writing and recordings in 2016. At this point, he surrounded himself with a series of more or less illustrious collaborators starting with the usual Parker Kindred (Antony & The Johnsons, Jeff Buckley), then guitarist Delicate Steve, bassist Guy Seyffert (Beck, Bedouine)... Especially producer Chris Coady (Beach House), who practically took him by the hand throughout the recording process, which then unfolded in two phases between the Electric Studios in New York and the Sunset Sound Studios in LA. The final result, at first listen, is quite positive: "Freedom" confirms itself as an album of psychedelia with dark tones and although repetitive, it is overall pleasant and especially in its camouflaged attempts to emulate Mick Jagger and play at being the underwater Rolling Stones ("Blue Rose", "Time", "Miki Dora", "Satudarah", "Dracula", "Freedom"...).

Indeed, these passages are the best parts in an album where you can feel some of that already mentioned uncertainty and the frightening specter of stuff similar to that War On Drugs deviation, which currently seems to be as dominant as Tame Impala's influence once was. The strong point remains McMahon's hypnotic voice, which I believe loses much of its potential and magic with these more institutional forms and combined with certain indie-derived grooves. This is a consideration that I think he himself should keep in mind for the future. Despite everything, I wouldn't say we're at a dead end, not yet. However, let's realize that if you get caught inside it, it's hard to get out, although since apparently no one has ever come back to complain about it, we must agree that evidently, they are fine with it that way.