A Head Full of Wishes is a site for Galaxie 500, Luna, Damon & Naomi, Dean & Britta and Dean Wareham. With news, articles and lists of releases and past and future shows.
My record collection
[301] Damon & Naomi - False Beats and True Hearts (LP)
Damon & Naomi’s False Beats and True Hearts was released on their own 20|20|20 label in May 2011, I bought it on CD back then. I bought this LP in 2013 when the Wondrous World bootleg edition was released and I filled my basket to try and make the postage seem less ridiculous.
The picture on the front cover of the sleeve is by French photographer Bernard Faucon who took a series of photos called “Summer Camp” using dummies between 1976 and 1981:
The summer of ’76 got off to a flying start. I could feel my strength and my youth burst open. I filled the Mehari (my cheap Citroen open-top car) with dummies and I was all over the drives, the dormitory in my parents’ children home, the churchyard in Lioux, the swimming-pool in Saint-Saturnin, the beaches of Saintes-Maries de la Mer in the Camargue. I would hurriedly set up the dummies , and after the shot, pack up and set off again. As they invested those places that bore the mark of my childhood I imagined that those little men freed from their shop-windows, released unknown forces, brought to light sublime, masterful evidence.
I must admit that I found the picture on the sleeve a bit bewildering, perhaps even a bit creepy, and was never entirely sure what to make of it - but having now seen it as part of the larger project it’s a bit easier to grasp. There are others in the series I like more but maybe it is the perplexing nature of the photo that was what was required for the album?
The LP has a hype sticker with a couple of quotes… maybe the CD did too but I no longer have it.
DAMON & NAOMI have slowly, steadily, stealthily made themselves into one of the most consistently interesting cultural juggernauts on the contemporary scene.
Byron Coley & Thurston Moore, Arthur Magazine #27 (Dec 2007)
Over two decades — first as the rhythm section of Galaxie 500 and then on a series of low-key studio albums — DAMON & NAOMI have mastered the art of intimacy.
Both quotes were in reviews written about their previous album Within These Walls but most certainly still apply to False Beats and True Hearts!
- Catalogue Number: AHFOW 12/009
- Artist: Damon & Naomi
- Title: False Beats and True Hearts
- Format: LP
- Bought from Damon & Naomi’s store for $15 (plus postage) in March 2007
- Buy ‘False Beats and True Hearts’ on Bandcamp
Previously in my record collection: