Death Jokes - Green Translucent Vinyl

Description

Amen Dunes has always worked with an outsider's verve, but by the time he set out to create his seventh album in 2019, it was clear to Damon McMahon that he needed to become an outsider to his own story. Instead of embarking on a familiar project, he decided to become a beginner again, immersing himself in the fundamentals of piano and electronic music that he had grown up with in raves and clubs, but which he had never imagined he could produce. Few Amen Dunes fans may have perceived the effect of this music on his work, but with Death Jokes, these influences will become evident. This album also marks a thematic shift: through the samples and lyrics, Damon critiques much more directly how American culture exalts violence, coercion, and groupthink as societal inevitabilities. While the strange and modern blend of folk and blues that has established Amen Dunes' reputation is still present here, Death Jokes is a major departure, an ambitious electronic album that reveals new artistic capabilities and concerns. These fourteen songs function as an essay on how American culture of violence, domination, and destructive individualism has crescendoed and imploded in recent years.