Stripped down songs with no bass, no drums, no support of any kind — just one person with a guitar and a microphone. No other setting provides such a transparent view.

This sort of presentation can take unsuspecting ticketholders by surprise but can nevertheless prove to be an unforgettable and intimate experience. Such was the case the night of Sept. 6 for the fans who made their way to Black Cat in Washington DC, where they’d find Damon McMahon all by his self.

The musician behind the Brooklyn-born Amen Dunes, McMahon is out in promotion of the project’s sixth and newest record — Death Jokes — but in small clubs he’s been taking a different approach. He’s been splitting his sets, first sharing favorites from the Amen Dunes catalogue in solo acoustic form and then performing tunes from the new record with only a mic in his hand and a backing track.