Devendra Banhart and Andy Cabic bring their mini tour to Loma Vista Gardens.

“We had always talked about doing a tour where there was a lot less tactical demands,” Andy Cabic explains.

In 2012, the plan was set in motion: Cabic and Devendra Banhart, who’ve known each other for more than 12 years, embarked on a summer tour, as a duo, in Japan, traveling by train.

The longtime friends got some quality hangtime. They clearly enjoy taking time with things, both having spent the better part of the decade mastering their crafts as part of more elaborate projects.

Cabic’s band Vetiver is a San Francisco fixture, while Banhart’s multicultural freak folk has inched its way into the mainstream. Banhart appears on most of Vetiver’s full-length debut, so the duo idea came naturally.

They’re not a performing pair in the traditional sense; none of the songs they play together are written together; instead, they alternate one another’s songs and back each other up. For example, in Banhart’s global children’s fable “Little Yellow Spider,” Cabic plays the rhythm guitar part and adds supporting vocals.

Beyond Tokyo and Kyoto, the train tracks led to some less-touristy Japanese cities like Okayama and Kanazawa.

“Ever since, we’ve been thinking about trying to do it again, but the right opportunity didn’t present itself,” Cabic says.

Until now. Last Friday, the duo was back in action at Gundlach Bundschu Winery in Sonoma. The show kicked off a speedy, six-gig tour that wraps up tonight in Big Sur at Loma Vista Gardens.

Banhart and Cabic have penned a lot of new material in the last two years. 2013’s Mala represents some of the best songwriting of Banhart’s career: The restrained guitar/vocal reverberation that carries “Golden Girls” is a classic demonstration of less making for more.

Cabic is finishing up a new Vetiver record that will be out some time next year. Listeners can expect to hear one or two of the new tunes with Banhart.

Otherwise their approach will be the same as it was in Japan: They’ll deliver material spanning both their entire catalogs and take turns backing each other up.

Cabic expects even avid fans may not recognize some of the songs stripped down. But Banhart and Cabic don’t really even notice the audience.

“It’s just fun to hang out and make each other laugh,” Cabic says. “Beyond that, I’m not sure what people are getting out of the shows, but I hope they dig them.”

NOAH GEORGESON, DEVENDRA BANHART and ANDY CABIC 7pm Thursday, Oct. 23. Loma Vista Gardens, 47540 California 1, Big Sur. $60. www.folkyeah.com