Name: Fluffy Maybes 松软许诺
Members: Jingyun Li, Robin Fisher
Interviewee: Robin Fisher
Occupation: Improvisers, composers, songwriters, instrumentalists
Current release: The new Fluffy Maybes 松软许诺 EP Rawland is out now.

If you enjoyed this interview with Fluffy Maybes 松软许诺 and would like to know more about their music, visit them on Instagram, Facebook, and Soundcloud. We also recommend our previous Fluffy Maybes 松软许诺 interview about improvisation.



Where does the impulse to create something come from for you? What role do often-quoted sources of inspiration like dreams, other forms of art, personal relationships, politics etc play?
 
In 2011, I bought an old book of English and American surrealist poets and it has brought me a lot of inspiration in music and writing for many years.

I like that these poets try to break the rules and take us outside the box, evoke a new feeling that is beyond the borders of tradition. If I need inspiration, I often pick up this book and read a bit. Or sometimes when we’re improvising I’ll flick to a page and use it as the starter of my lyrics.

For you to get started, do there need to be concrete ideas – or what some have called a 'visualisation' of the finished work? What does the balance between planning and chance look like for you?

We try not to get too caught up in the destination. Instead I think we are both thinking more about the “mode of travel”. With our machines and instruments, we’ve created a system that allows us to follow our impulses and interact with each other to the best of our abilities.

What final music will probably be quite interesting to us because we put attention on the method first.
 
Is there a preparation phase for your process? Do you require your tools to be laid out in a particular way, for example, do you need to do 'research' or create 'early versions'?

Mostly just finding inspiring sounds and samples, maybe entering the jam with a theme or a sentence or with an image in mind.

Do you have certain rituals to get you into the right mindset for creating? What role do certain foods or stimulants like coffee, lighting, scents, exercise or reading poetry play?

Like I wrote above, coloured lighting helps me a lot.

Actually I like to be a bit hungry when I am playing music. After food I don’t feel like I have good focus.
 
What do you start with? How difficult is that first line of text, the first note?

I think we just dive in, switching samples, playing melodies, processing stuff.

It can be kinda messy in the beginning. But eventually we will arrive at some motif or repeating sound that will form the foundation and then we’ll build on that.
 
When do the lyrics enter the picture? Where do they come from? Do lyrics need to grow together with the music or can they emerge from a place of their own?

For us they generally appear later in the jam.

Some fragments pulled from earlier conversations, bits of surrealist poetry from books, observations in the room. Sometimes Jingyun is singing in Chinese also.
 
What makes lyrics good in your opinion? What are your own ambitions and challenges in this regard?

I don’t worry too much about things making too much sense. I see it more like abstract art and painting pictures with words.

For me, if it evokes some mystery and curiosity then I feel like it’s doing its job.
 
Once you've started, how does the work gradually emerge?

We jam for around 20-30 minutes each time. Afterwards we listen and you can kinda hear the different sections morphing into eacho ther.

Then we’ll take the multitracks and cut them up into an abbreviated version with more structure. Then you start to hear maybe a “song” in this phase.
 
Many writers have claimed that as soon as they enter into the process, certain aspects of the narrative are out of their hands. Do you like to keep strict control over the process or is there a sense of following things where they lead you?

Yeah guess I like control sometimes, haha.

But we have to share this process and sometimes we do not always agree on everything. We can be in the middle of the jam and pulling in two different directions and then get frustrated. It’s all a learning experience though.
 
Often, while writing, new ideas and alternative roads will open themselves up, pulling and pushing the creator in a different direction. Does this happen to you, too, and how do you deal with it? What do you do with these ideas?

We embrace all this stuff. I think both of us are trying to flip stuff on its head quite often. Sometimes the same workflow gets boring, and we both decided with this band that we don’t have to follow too many rules.

So we’re quite open to whatever happens - as long as we agree with each other, haha.
 
There are many descriptions of the creative state. How would you describe it for you personally? Is there an element of spirituality to what you do?

I think we are always modifying our methods to try to reach a higher, more creative state.

So far we didn’t talk so much about spirituality but it could be interesting to explore, maybe meditation before a jam.
 
Especially in the digital age, the writing and production process tends towards the infinite. What marks the end of the process? How do you finish a work?

The gear we use really limits what we can do in the jam. So far we tried not to do too many overdubs.

In the EP there are basically none. We wanted it to be a truthful representation of what happened in that exact moment. The end of the creative process is really when the long jams recordings are edited down and mixed.
 
Once a piece is finished, how important is it for you to let it lie and evaluate it later on? How much improvement and refinement do you personally allow until you're satisfied with a piece? What does this process look like in practise?

We’ve been chopping away at the recording for about a year now. I think we are both ready to move on but we’ve learned a lot in this process to speed it up for next time.

I like the idea that “finished” is a choice, not a destination. I spent too much time in my life constantly refining one track when I should have just released and moved onto the next.
 
What's your take on the role and importance of production, including mixing and mastering for you personally? How involved do you get in this?

Yeah it’s important. The type of production can make or break a track. It can give music many different feelings.

Although we are making some electronic music, we really tried to give our music a kind of analog sound like early electronica artists.
 
After finishing a piece or album and releasing something into the world, there can be a sense of emptiness. Can you relate to this – and how do you return to the state of creativity after experiencing it?

It’s good to have a break actually. After a big project I generally want to chill and enjoy the daily life.

I try not to have too high expectations these days about what kind of impact music is going to have and just feel happy that I made it.
 
Creativity can reach many different corners of our lives. Do you personally feel as though writing a piece of music is inherently different from something like making a great cup of coffee? What do you express through music that you couldn't or wouldn't in more 'mundane' tasks?
 
Art is full of nuance. I think a coffee is full of good or bad coffee. Maybe there’s slight subjectivity in that but there’s no story.

Art invites you into its world, surrounds you, delivers messages that you feel like your own memories and releases you back to reality. Coffee just helps me write emails.