Damiana

Natalie Chami and Whitney Johnson perform as a duo under the name Damiana. Both artists have built their own catalogs as multi-instrumentalist improvisers and composers in the Chicago experimental music scene, exploring the intersections between ambient, electro-acoustic improv, and more legible songcraft based around their voices and their work with synths and electronics — all filtered through their backgrounds in classical performance and education. Chami’s solo recordings under the <a href="spotify:artist:3W8UkPK2qxmnwqcBxqf1vL" data-name="TALsounds">TALsounds</a> moniker have appeared on labels such as NNA Tapes, Ba Da Bing!, and Moog’s own imprint, and her collaborative projects include the trio <a href="spotify:artist:6Mj8zEcLdfcF23aNKyJ3Ov" data-name="Good Willsmith">Good Willsmith</a>. Johnson has released a series of solo LPs as <a href="spotify:artist:7JbFsfhiuS2Aq2PNMt1bju" data-name="Matchess">Matchess</a> on the label Trouble in Mind, and performs with Laura Callier (<a href="spotify:artist:2NL9Kd0v3P3HklMsvPsQew" data-name="Gel Set">Gel Set</a>) as the duo <a href="spotify:artist:3xpTPxO1nS2Rtv052MwwS6" data-name="Simulation">Simulation</a>. After meeting in the early 2010s, Chami and Johnson embarked on multiple US tours together, and their informal duo collaborations naturally crystallized over time into the Damiana project.

In a vast sea of improvised, one-take electro-acoustic music, Chami and Johnson stand out as bastions of technical prowess and nuanced emotional storytelling.