EUROPEAN UNION

One is the daughter of a psychedelic rock hero, the other played bass in The Clash. As Galen Ayers and Paul Simonon unite for a duets album, Can We Do Tomorrow Another Day?, Kevin Harley hears about how they wore their pasts lightly while drawing inspiration from continental adventures and great male-female duos of the past…

- Kevin Harley

In 2014, Galen Ayers and Paul Simonon bonded in support of Damon Albarn and a lighter way to enjoy chocolate. The duo’s first outing together was as audience members at one of Albarn’s Royal Albert Hall stop-offs on his Everyday Robots tour, sharing a box with friends. “With Maltesers,” recalls Simonon, the bassist whose history includes The Clash, Havana 3am, The Good, The Bad & The Queen and Gorillaz, among other artistic and environmental pursuits. “Throwing them at people – let them eat chocolate!” recalls Galen, daughter of late Soft Machine luminary Kevin Ayers and a singer, songwriter and activist herself. “Like chocolate cannonballs,” adds Simonon, the Clash bassist embracing the confectionery of SW7.

Almost a decade on, Ayers and Simonon have reconvened as Galen & Paul in the service of something new. Heralded by the holiday-camp organs and “cha cha chas” of briskly infectious single Lonely Town, Can We Do Tomorrow Another Day? is a distinctly Europhile, melodically playful set of duets. Whimsical and sharp, witty and observational, the album features songs in Spanish and English, with Simonon taking the microphone years on from The Guns Of Brixton. Though untouched by modernity in its mergers of rocksteady, French chanson, sea shanties, lonesome lighthouse keeper’s laments and more, its vivid vignettes alight inquisitively on themes ranging from Brexit to modern Europe.

Recorded in Albarn’s West London studio, the album features the Blur frontman on melodica alongside guitarist Simon Tong, drummer Sebastian Rochford, keyboardist Dan Donovan and producer Tony Visconti. At its core, though, sits the bond between Ayers and Simonon. Contrasted voices, their chalk-cheese image is deceptive. Speaking to