Durham duo Eric Erica a true musical match

Eric Kuhn and Erica Fink are not your average couple. Sure, they can finish each other’s sentences and there’s a sparkle in their eyes when they look at one another, but there’s something else that makes their bond even stronger: music.

The two met in 2010 through a mutual friend while living in California. It made perfect sense for them to start creating music together, and on July 4, 2012, Eric + Erica officially formed.

An extensive touring schedule followed the releases of the duo’s EP and full-length album last year. By the beginning of March 2014, the couple had officially relocated to Kuhn’s hometown, Durham.

One reason for the move was hearing about successful bands that have launched in the Triangle. Another was the need to make a lifestyle change to focus on music.

“We wanted to devote the majority of our lives to our creative pursuits and to the band, and think of it as this giant art project where we can really make anything together,” Fink said. “We came here and checked it out, and it just felt right to us.”

The duo’s first show as North Carolina residents will be Friday at the Cat’s Cradle Back Room with I Was Totally Destroying It . One of that band’s members, John Booker , is a longtime friend of Kuhn.

Booker was in Kuhn’s former band IO that moved to California, but he decided to move back to North Carolina in 2005. This show will be the first in almost 10 years that Booker and Kuhn will play together in their home state.

Booker said that the duo’s time on the West Coast allows them to bring a different perspective to the area.

“I can’t say I’ve heard anybody playing the kind of music that they play around here recently,” Booker said. “They’re definitely doing their own thing.”

Another longtime collaborator with Eric + Erica is Michael Musika , who still resides in California. He said their complementary personalities play an important part in their ability to make music effortlessly with one another.

“I know from writing and recording music and arranging it with Eric that his mind moves really, really fast — sometimes, it’s hard to keep up,” Musika said. “Erica also can move really fast, so they can keep each other interested because they both work in that way.”

“There’s like an immediacy of musical connection (with her) that I’ve never experienced before,” Kuhn said. “It’s kind of this really amazing 50/50 blend where I feel like half the time we’re thinking exactly the same thing without having to communicate it ... and then half the time we’re thinking kind of opposite things, but in a way that’s really exciting and inspiring.”

“(Making music) feels like something we need to do in order process everything around us, in order to function, “ Fink said. “I’ve never met anybody besides Eric who needs that in the way that I do.”

“We’re creating music because it sustains us.”

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