Damon & Naomi, the long-running pair comprised of former Galaxie 500 members Damon Krukowski and Naomi Yang, are returning to make all your folk-pop fantasies go away. They recorded A Sky Record with Michio Kurihara on electric guitar; it will be released on their own 20-20-20 label on August 6th, and in the meantime, you can listen to the very lovely lead track, “Sailing By.”
Damon & Naomi describe “Sailing By” as an homage to the Shipping Forecast, a nightly BBC Radio show that provides weather forecasts for anyone piloting a boat near the British Isles.
They found the Shipping Forecast weirdly calming during last year’s lockdown, tuning in virtually every night from across the Atlantic, despite the fact that they live in Massachusetts.
Krukowski sings gently over Yang’s backup vocals and Kurihara’s smooth guitar lines, turning the premise of the Shipping Forecast into a characteristically wonderful song.
Damon & Naomi aren’t the only musicians to draw inspiration from the Shipping Forecast’s list of British coastal place names. On “This Is a Low,” the gently sighing ballad that concludes their great 1994 album Parklife, Blur notably recalled a few of its highlights; six years and a couple of British pop epochs later, on Kid A, Radiohead sneaked a sample into “In Limbo.” However, neither of those songs evoked the same sense of complete serenity and pleasure as Damon & Naomi’s contribution to the canon.
