richard youngs has been making music for over two decades. 'the naive shaman' is his seventh album for jagjaguwar, and is a deeply personal work. created on a computer at home, it offers a high density digital song cycle driven by heavy, heavy electric bass guitar. the opening 'life on a beam' combines a modal vocal line with throbbing sonics and non-linear percussion. elsewhere a plaintive voice threads itself through frosted atmospherics and we hear richards first recorded kazoo work since 1992s 'new angloid sound'. at the core of the album is 'sonar in my soul', a bass loop onto which are collaged strangulated guitar, singing and more singing. the track climaxes in a hollered plea for unity. the second half of the set contrasts 'once it was autumn', a succinctly crafted dub chant, with the epic 'summers edge 2', whose sprawling 16 plus minutes anchor a floating vocal melody and free-flowing drums with fuzzed bass octaves. at a time when he has increased his commitment to live performance, richard youngs has paradoxically produced an album that explores recording technology as an instrument - a work where song is modulated by sound.