It’s perhaps no surprise that a Tokyo concert hall is the ideal setting for the Damon & Naomi live experience. Japanese audiences are famously reverent, ideal for the washes of noise that colour the former Galaxie 500 member’s repertoire.
The 12 songs here span the duo’s career up to and including 2007’s Within These Walls; it’s effectively a greatest hits set that won’t disappoint. The pair are augmented by a stellar supporting cast (including Boris collaborator and Ghost guitarist Michio Kurihara), who really do the material justice. If there’s any complaint it’s that the songs are treated too carefully. Things are most successful when the band decides to turn it up a notch, creating a thrilling wall of sound.
This is a strictly no-frills affair that prefers to let the music speak for itself. While this is in a way commendable, the ethos seems to have been extended to the footage itself; the camera-work can be sluggish, often focusing on single members of the band for too long. The casual viewer may well find their focus waning. The musicianship is flawless, however, the footage moody and the songs excellent, though it’s hard to see this being of much interest to anyone but the hardcore.
