continued...

Before recording their third LP, Damon and Naomi gave up on graduate school to pursue their work with the band full time. In late 1989 and early 1990, Galaxie played frequently in Europe, especially in the UK, garnering rave reviews across the board. In the spring of 1990, Dean decided to move back to New York while his bandmates stayed in Boston. They recorded their third album, This Is Our Music, in the summer of 1990, again with Kramer. The album's title was nicked from Ornette Coleman's classic for Atlantic, recorded 30 years earlier.

Although This Is Our Music would eventually become Galaxie 500's swan song, it seems like another subtle step forward in the band's brilliant trajectory. There are more blended vocals, Naomi's best singing on record (a cover of Yoko Ono's "Listen, the Snow Is Falling"), and another set of stunning originals. The press reaction to This Is Our Music was classically adulatory. The band played the UK festival circuit, embarked on their first full-blown American tour, and seemed on the verge of another major evolutionary leap, when Dean announced he was leaving the band.