Amen Dunes

Amen Dunes

Amen Dunes is the project of Damon McMahon, active since 2006 and based in Brooklyn. It begins with recordings made in upstate New York in the fall of 2006, initially kept as private tapes rather than intended for release. McMahon then moves to China and largely stops making music, spending the next few years in Beijing and writing and recording only occasionally.

The project takes a more public form with DIA, released on Locust Music in 2009. After that record, McMahon returns to the United States and forms a band around Amen Dunes. The group plays in New York and tours the US and Europe from 2009 to 2010.

In summer 2010, McMahon releases the Murder Dull Mind EP on Sacred Bones. It collects apartment recordings made in Beijing and differs from the earlier material in being more sparse, mostly acoustic and built largely from first-take improvisation. McMahon then starts work on the second full-length, Through Donkey Jaw, his first proper recordings in almost five years.

Amen Dunes is associated with experimental rock, indie folk and lo-fi, and is also described with lo-fi, psychedelic, folk, experimental and garage rock tags.