Fluffy Maybes is a kind of soft promise that may not be kept, a transcontinental musical experiment birthed in the pandemic. Finally meeting in person in January 2022, Jingyun and Robin recorded six hours of improvised sessions under unexpected quarantine conditions, which eventually formed the EP ‘Rawland’.
Moving through sounds of early electronica, sun-drenched psychedelia, and floating ambience, the duo generate moments of spontaneous sonic playfulness, hypnotic pulses from other worlds and evolving waves of nature-inspired synthesis. Whatever happens in the future, at least for now we can shower you with some fluffy maybes.
FACTS
1. We first met in a YouTube comments section.
2. Our first EP was created over 12 days when we first met in person and while Robin had Covid.
3. “Fluffy maybes” means something like an empty promise that may not be kept but gives comfort.
QUESTIONS
1. What is the biggest inspiration for your music?
Curiosity, discovery, extremely spicy food. We inspire and push each other a lot. I think we are both very curious people with an urge to go further and deeper in terms of sounds. Also the machines themselves influence our sound quite a bit. Lots of happy accidents.
2. How and when did you get into making music?
Robin: I started playing around with tapes and guitars as a kid. Taking apart old tape recorders too. I think I’ve always been interested in technology.
Jingyun: I had this story when I was 18, falling for “the Durutti Column”. I was very lucky to write to Vini Reilly and it was him who encouraged me to pick up guitar. Since then I started recording some pieces on garageband (the tape machine of our generation I guess!) In 2021, when I got to know Robin, I started to explore more with sampler, synth and loopers.
3. What are 5 of your favourite albums of all time?
Jingyun:
The Durutti Column “LC”
Swallow “Blow”
Dif Juz “Out of the Trees”
Susumu Yokota “Sakura”
Goo Age ”Open Zone”
Robin:
Torn Hawk – White Labels and Outtakes
Joan of Arc – How Can Anything So Little Be Any More?
John Bender – I Don’t Remember Now / I Don’t Want To Talk About It
Sun Araw – Beach Head
Panda Bear – Person Pitch
4. What do you associate with Berlin?
Robin: Art on everything. Art made out of trash. People trying things just because why not. Experimental as mainstream. Falafel halloumi.
Jingyun: Berlin – a city free of judgment.
5. What’s your favourite place in your town?
Loophole in Neukölln. We love this place, it’s really like a Berlin institution at this point. You can go there any night of the week and see something unique that sparks your own inspiration. And the staff and community are just lovely.
6. If there was no music in the world, what would you do instead?
Jingyun: I will try throughout my lifetime to create a world with music.
Robin: What she said.
7. What was the last record/music you bought?
Jingyun: Can I have two(laugh)? Pontiac Streator & Ulla Straus -“11 items” was quite a blast in my recent listening experience. And also “Danzindan-Pojidon” by Inoyama Land was a really enjoyable journey of soundscape.
Robin: Recently I’ve been listening a lot to Blithe Field’s album ‘Ward Unblending’. It’s an ambient album full of ocean-like waves of sound and electronic and traditional instruments. I’m a sucker for this floaty hypnotic kind of music.
8. Who would you most like to collaborate with?
Jingyun: We will probably have a fight on this question. I would love to collaborate with Goo Age though.
Robin: Actually I’m in the middle of collab with a musician in Australia called Sad Man Caves who I have been following for a while now. His music is something like what indie psychedelic rock music would sound like if it was created on a modular synth. We’ve been sending jams back and forth and layering up.
9. What was your best gig (as performer or spectator)?
Robin: We’ve only played one concert so far which was our EP launch but it was very special to us. It represents the final stage of a very long process, from us talking online to internet collab to jamming in person to sharing with the public. It was a very positive moment shared with a lot of people.
Jingyun: Our friends and audience gave us so much love and energy. According to our friends, the basement was filled with people and there were more trying to come in. Was kissed and hugged like crazy after the gig. Friends threw fluff at us and left stickers on our synths. We are very grateful that people were really into our music.
10. How important is technology to your creative process?
Technology is the foundation which we build our music on. We’ve created some kind of improvising system where things can build up and evolve and we can act like conductors of our machine orchestra but also play some live stuff too.
11. Do you have siblings and how do they feel about your career/art?
Robin: I have a brother who is making music for people playing tabletop RPG games like dungeons and dragons. We’re in different worlds musically but we both have a big respect for each others’ craft.
Jingyun: As a single child born in the period of “one child policy”, I am always wondering what it would be like to have siblings.
