The pursuit of balance is not a hallmark of youth. So it only stands to reason that Damon Krukowski and Naomi Yang, the psychedelic folk duo who record and perform as Damon & Naomi, wouldn't find it until 18 years into their musical life together. It saturates the pair's new album, ''The Earth Is Blue," a collection of pop songs that hover in a mystery spot between memory's dark recesses and the light of day. It's lush and austere, abstract and approachable, beautiful and heavy all at once. It even has a beginning, a middle, and an end.

Krukowski and Yang, who recorded ''The Earth Is Blue" in a 24-track studio set up in the Cambridge home they share, are flirting with equilibrium in their business lives, as well. For the first time the two have a manager and -- after recording five albums over 10 years for Sub Pop -- their own record label, revealingly christened 20/20/20.

''We both had this board game when we were kids called 'Careers,' " explains Krukowski, also a critic and a poet, chatting before the pair's CD-release party last week at ZuZu!

''You had to choose a formula, some combination of money, fame, and happiness, that adds up to 60 points," says Yang, an accomplished photographer and graphic artist.

''Most kids put all their eggs in one basket," Krukowski says, ''but both of us figured out as kids if you chose an even allotment of each you always won the game. Later in conversation we realized that it was each of our secret tricks. We felt we should bring some of that to the way we approach the music business."

It's probably no coincidence that Krukowski and Yang came to this conclusion following the recording sessions for ''The Earth Is Blue," which swelled to such unexpected proportions the pair had to dismantle and rebuild their home studio -- losing a large chunk of living space in the bargain -- to finish the project. The plan was to lay down basic tracks as a trio with Japanese guitarist Michio Kurihara, their collaborator on 2000's ''Damon & Naomi With Ghost." But Kurihara filled up every track on the duo's 16-track console with astonishing textures, and none of them wanted to sacrifice a note to make room for something as mundane as a rhythm section.

''He was expressing, sonically and emotionally, what we had planned to add later with strings and horns," says Krukowski.

''We had no tracks left for vocals or drums," explains Yang.

''So we enlarged the studio to 24 tracks and did overdubs and mixing for a year and a half," Krukowski continues. ''We went way past the point where we normally would have stopped. But we didn't stop until we maxed out our technology, and that's when we found out what the record should sound like. We never envisioned it as such a big, layered record."

While it's unlikely that any of these lovely songs will make much of a commercial dent, ''The Earth Is Blue" is the nearest thing to a pop record the duo have produced since their days in Galaxie 500, the revered Boston band they formed in the late '80s with Dean Wareman. Saxophonist Bhob Rainey and trumpeter Greg Kelley, both local sidemen, added uncharacteristically bright colors to Damon & Naomi's familiar subdued sound. And Yang, a bassist and keyboardist, does more of the lead vocals, including singing a haunted cover of the Beatles' ''While My Guitar Gently Weeps." That, says Krukowski, who plays acoustic guitar and drums, was a very conscious decision.

''I think of this record as very much focused on Naomi," he says. ''I had this image that Naomi's voice would carry the stronger emotions. A lot of the songwriting work was presenting ideas to Naomi and seeing which ones would work."

''Damon comes up with a chord structure and I complain about it or not," Yang clarifies.

''We both have a very clear idea of how we want things done," says Krukowski. ''But the lines still get blurred. It's very much a collaboration."