A ship carrying a promising musician is shipwrecked upon the Dessert Island. All they have with them are eight of their choice tracks, and a cheap set of disco lights. Oh and a cargo of their favourite pudding!

Fling ii

Fling ii don’t operate like a traditional band, and that’s exactly why their records sound unlike anything else. At the centre of the project is a single constant: a bandleader (Brad) who shows up to every session, calls in whichever musicians he can wrangle, and then lets the music grow from whoever happens to be in the room.

“Fling ii is, well, kind of a funny band,” he laughs. “It’s really just me and whoever I can get to join for a show or a recording session. I call my buddies: ‘What if we had a recording session this winter?’ ‘What if we played a show next month?’. And whoever shows up, shows up.”

Brad jokes that he’s the only person who’s been present at every session, yet probably appears the least on the records. “I’m walking around the studio, steering the ship, telling people what to do. But it’s my band.”

For those that don’t know, Fling ii play a kind of US based Kraotrock, with tracks like Ilya from latest release “3” (yes, its their third album). “I’m the Deadhead in the band,” he admits. “I don’t know if anyone else really likes the Dead. And I’m also really into new‑age synthesis. Ilya is where those two worlds collided.” One of the synth arpeggios runs up and down the harmonic series rather than a traditional scale. “I worried it might be one of those ideas that’s cool to think about but sucks to listen to,” he says. “But people seem to like it.”

The writing process begins at home, sketching ideas on his bank of synthesizers. He brings those sketches into the studio, where anywhere from four to seven musicians react to them. “Sometimes the answer is: ‘No, kill it.’ But if they like it, we’ll play for 20, 40, 60 minutes and see what we can squeeze out.” For Ilya, they recorded two half‑hour takes. The final track is a collage of the best bits.

They record each album in just two days — “because that’s what I can afford” — and then Brad spends a year mixing at home, soloing stems, reversing parts, looping moments, and discovering hidden textures. Live shows, though still improvisational, require a different mindset. “In the studio, if my playing is bad for a couple minutes, I don’t care. But live, I don’t want you thinking I’m wasting your time. I want a tight, interesting 40 minutes, not ‘What’s this guy up to?’”

“If you dig what we do, listen to the third record and stay tuned. There’s a lot working through the pipes.”

Their choices for the dessert island disco:

Boards of Canada - “Music is Math”
Harmonia - “Watussi”
Go Kurosawa - “Rice Harvesting Day”
Time Wharp - “10 Year Warranty”
Hydropark - “Panel of Experts”
Tortoise - “Axial Seamount”
Can - “Paperhause”
King Crimson - “I Talk to the Wind”

Favourite Pudding - Bread pudding