Fort Wayne’s Funayurei is making music that’s hard to put into just one box. WBOI's Bri Datta-Barrow spoke with the duo about the influences shaping their sound, their creative approach to songwriting and the inspiration behind their new EP, Before You Bloom.
2026 Performance Schedule
- May 29th: Los Electro (Psychedelic Cumbria and Latin Rock)
- June 26th: Man of the Flood (Progressive Indie Rock)
- July 31st: Anthony Giraldi (Soul, R&B, Indie)
- August 28th: Funayūrei (Synthwave)
- September 25th: The Thinning (Indie Rock)
This season of Live and Local at The Landing is made possible with support from the Ardelle and Theresa Glaze Foundation as part of WBOI’s Amplify All project.
Bri Datta-Barrow: I'm joined now by Mandy Kawa and Rob Parker, the duo behind Funayure. Thank you both so much for being here.
Rob Parker: Thank you.
Mandy Kawa: Thanks for having us.
Bri Datta-Barrow: What does Funayure mean?
Rob Parker: It just kind of folklore horror type stuff. And so Funayure, Yure's spirit in Japanese, or you could say ghost. Funayure is like sort of the ghost of someone who is like a vengeful spirit who died at sea. The bad news is it's hard to pronounce. The good news is it wasn't taken.
Bri Datta-Barrow: So, so take us back to the beginning. How did the two of you guys first cross paths and you know start making music together?
Mandy Kawa: We were coworkers, and we were both in different music projects at the time. And then I went through a horrendous breakup, and I didn't want to do my old music project anymore. And so I hounded Rob until he agreed that we could make music together. I think that's about how it worked, and then decided to just keep running with it.
Rob Parker: Yeah, we did a song, and I found that it was a lot of fun. And then I think nine months later, we ended up with an album out and released…
Mandy Kawa: Our first baby. (chuckles)
Bri Datta-Barrow: For listeners who may be new to Synthwave, how would you describe that sound? And I know it's kind of got like an esthetic element to it?
Rob Parker: We call ourselves Synthwave because we don't really know what else to call it. And of course, like yeah, you you could put us in that box, and neither of us would be upset about it.
But you know the point. I mean, we're just very inspired by sounds of like the '80s, late '70s, and early 90's, you know, we both like music from, and are inspired by some. Some of our songs have been inspired by, like, video game soundtracks, so it's it comes from every all over the place. But I would like to think that we've kind of done our own thing with it.
Mandy Kawa: I found that it's easiest to tell people we sound like a mix between the Cure and Janet Jackson. I've just kind of eliminated like genre labels altogether because I'm like, I, I don't know.
Rob Parker: You know, growing up listening to bands like The Cure and Depeche Mode and just all kinds of stuff.
Mandy Kawa: It's more of an influence than an homage.
Bri Datta-Barrow: Yeah, got you. Thank you. So cool. So, what's it like when you guys get into the studio and just start playing around? Like, what's that like?
Rob Parker: Pretty fun. We would just get together and just have a bunch of drinks and just throw stuff at the wall and see what stuck. And we'd go out for lunch, usually to there's a nearby Mexican place, and have a bunch of margaritas and come back to the studio and listen back to what we did. Like, “yeah, sounds great.”
Mandy Kawa: We have to keep it light. I always like my favorite thing to do when we're like rehearsing or whatever is like I'll put up some stupid like picture or GIF of a cat, and it's always something so unserious. But it's, like, there to like remind myself, like, it's not that deep, like we're just here to have fun.
Bri Datta-Barrow: You just released an EP earlier in this year titled "Before You Bloom. What ideas or experiences were you guys going through or having that you know inspired that EP?
Mandy Kawa: "Before You Bloom" is something that I kind of gathered from the title track {Pausing} "Before You Bloom", I was working, I was playing around with ideas of, like, phoenix rising from ashes, like, just like being reborn, like cathartic type of themes.
Because this EP specifically, the track itself is about, like, dealing with addiction., And so it really what inspired me was this desert lily. It's a flower that blooms even in like really harsh conditions, and so that's sort of what sparked that idea of like okay, well sometimes, like, there's like these types of flowers that like literally, like, die before they like come back to life and, like, are like bloom and live to their potential, so that's sort of what the inspiration behind that was.
“Living With A Ghost” is another one. That's one about, like, abusive relationships, and “Left Me Behind”, that's another big one, just about feeling, like, estranged from a parent.
So, yeah, this was a really meaningful EP for me, especially because it was just, like, writing about things that were so important to me.
Bri Datta-Barrow: This season of Live and Local at the Landing was made possible with support from the Ardell and Therese Glaze Foundation as part of WBOY's Amplify All Project.
So for us, Live and Local is all about just spotlighting the incredible local music scene that we have here in Fort Wayne. Why do you think events like this matter for local artists who are trying to build a presence here in this community?
Mandy Kawa: Well, a big one is that there's hardly any venues to play locally anymore, at least not as many as there was when I was growing up, or even a teenager here. There's very limited with options with that. And so many of those places that you can play are bars, so that eliminates anybody under the age of 21. And then when it comes to, like, playing ,like, an event like this, I think it gives local bands, like, a much bigger platform to reach people that otherwise may not hear them, people that may not like be able to go out to shows, or who may not just like be in the know. So I think it's great to be able to expose the people of Fort Wayne to all the great local bands that we have here.
Rob Parker: It's something that any kind of band could participate in. For instance, like us playing what we do at like a small little coffee shop would just be sort of a strange fit, whereas something like this event, you can be a solo acoustic guitar singer songwriter type of person by yourself and play and be seen, or you can be a full blown band and play just as well, or something weird like us, and it just works.
Bri Datta-Barrow: For any artists who are just starting out, you know, in Fort Wayne, you guys have been playing the scene for a while now, What's something that you've learned about the local music community here in Fort Wayne?
Mandy Kawa: We have a really, really good community of artists and musicians here.
Rob Parker: Yeah, there's no shortage of talent out here, but there is a shortage of places to play. And again, it wasn't always this way, but it is a bit alarming to see just so many places closed down. But yeah, there's definitely no shortage of really talented people out here, and it's a cool community. So it’s good to be part of it.
Bri Datta-Barrow: And then, what is something that you think Fort Wayne does well for musicians, and what's something that you would like to see more of?
Rob Parker: Radio support like this is huge. We've done a lot with another radio station, and they support us greatly. And so, just doing things like this, getting support from the people who have the ability to just put us out there or put us on the waves or whatever, is, is massive.
Mandy Kawa: Another thing that's been great with, like, the community, as far as like a lack of places to play, is I've noticed there's been a lot more house shows that have opened up and like people like literally opening up their homes to strangers so that like people can experience music and like bands can play. I think that is such a, like, beautiful thing. There's been, like, I think like four different houses I've been to for shows, and like they're all really well ran, like very professionally done. And I think that is like such a wonderful thing.
Bri Datta-Barrow: For any listeners heading to the landing tonight, what kind of experience can they expect from a Funayurei performance?
Rob Parker: Music you can both cry and dance to at the same time.
Mandy Kawa: Same time. That's what everybody wants.
Bri Datta-Barrow: Yeah, that's perfect. Well, thank you guys so much for coming in today and speaking with me. We are all so looking forward to the show. We can't wait. We'll see you tonight.
Mandy Kawa: Thank you so much for having us.
