When you see the name Funayūrei, you may wonder, “What’s that all about?” 

Well, you’re not alone.

Funayūrei is not only the moniker of local synthpop duo Mandy Kawa and Rob Parker, but also vengeful spirits that have died at sea in Japanese folklore.

“It was like, ‘Here’s an idea.’ And (Kawa) was like, ‘Cool.’ We never talked about it again,” Parker said about the name. “And it’s a double-edged sword because on one hand, no one seems able to pronounce it. On the other hand, it was definitely not taken.”

Hard to pronounce or not, the name is working as Funayūrei are the latest entry in the ALT Homegrown Spotlight, with interviews airing at 7 p.m. on Thursday, Dec. 21, and Sunday, Dec. 24, as well as Thursday, Dec. 28, and Sunday, Dec. 31.

If radio interviews are not enough, you can also catch them Saturday, Dec. 23, when they celebrate the release of their third album, Open Me Carefully, at The Brass Rail with CloudMaker and The Igloos.

Taking a chance

Funayūrei’s journey began where many Fort Wayne bands begin — Sweetwater Sound.

“We were both in different music groups at the time,” Kawa said, herself in Sea Mountains and Parker in Blue Wave. “I went through a really big life change, and the music project I was doing just wasn’t suiting me anymore. Rob and I were working at Sweetwater, and we had some mutual friends, and he randomly approached me and asked if I wanted to do some music together. I was like, ‘Sure, why not?’ and it ended up working really well.”

“Is that how it happened?” Parker responded. “I think it was you that approached me.”

“Was it? Maybe. Maybe I did,” Kawa said with a laugh.

Parker said he had initial reservations about working on a side project.

“If I’m going to be in a musical project, I just want to be able to focus on it and put everything I’ve got into,” he said. “So, the idea of doing a side project was kind of like, ‘Oh, I don’t know.’ But we eventually did and immediately had a song done. Then, we had a couple more done. At that point, we were like, ‘We’re on to something here.’ ”

That first song was “Untouchable,” which was recorded in September 2018. Just eight months later, it found its way on Funayūrei’s debut album, Liminal.

Splitting duties

From the opening song on Liminal, the title track sets the tone for a synth throwback.

“Old industrial ’80s stuff like Skinny Puppy or any of the EDM-type stuff,” Parker said of his influences, which include Depeche Mode and The Cure.

Over Parker’s music is the soothing, melodic voice of Kawa, who grew up on the music of Janet Jackson, Madonna, Aaliyah, and Amy Winehouse, while also being inspired by Kali Uchis. 

“That’s where I get most of my vocal melody and lyric ideas or inspiration,” Kawa said.

For the most part, it’s Parker supplying the music and Kawa the lyrics, although Parker has dabbled on the writing side. Some of that occurred on the duo’s sophomore effort, 2021’s Not Forever, But for Now.

“Very occasionally, I’ll give a song a working title, which sometimes ends up being the title,” he said. “ ‘Empress’ (on Not Forever, But for Now) is an example of that. Very occasionally, I’ll have lyrics. ‘Dirge’ from the last album is an example of that, where I really had something I wanted to say. 

“Still, I would much rather her do the lyrics.”

Drawing inspiration

On their latest release, which hit streaming services on Dec. 15, Kawa’s focus was solely on lyrics, putting more of herself into the songs. 

“I took a slightly different approach with the way I was writing lyrics this time,” she said. “The whole album is inspired by this book of letters that Emily Dickinson wrote to her lover (Susan Huntington Dickinson), which is also called Open Me Carefully. 

“I wanted to approach this album like every song was a letter I was writing to somebody. It just made it feel more personal and made me feel more vulnerable and less obscure and ambiguous with what I was saying.”

Kawa’s inspiration may have come from Dickinson, but for Parker, anything could lead to a song.

“Quite often, a song will be inspired by something completely random,” he said.

“Where Mandy has a message she’s trying to send out, there’s a song on our last album, ‘Sex Tape,’ which for me was musically inspired by a song that plays on the very first Silent Hill game,” Parker said. “Inspiration will come from all sorts of random places.”

“We also have a song that was inspired by The Lion King,” Kawa said of “Over” from Open Me Carefully.

Wherever inspiration comes from, it worked for the duo on Not Forever, But for Now. They received praise for the album, with a particularly positive response from the Internet Killed the Video Store podcast sticking with Parker — for better or for worse.

“It was such a good review, that during the entire making of this album, that’s all I could think about: ‘It has to be as good as that.’ There was a lot of just crippling self-criticism,” he said. “This was a difficult album for me to make.”

Playing live

The album took a little longer to make than their previous two efforts, but life — and day jobs — do get in the way sometimes.

“It’s not like we’re able to come in and do this every day,” he said of his home studio. “Otherwise, it would be like every six months.”

That positive review they received from the podcast may have also played a role in the recording process.

“There’s a song called ‘Like Me,’ and we probably went over it 100 times,” he said. “Eventually it was done. It took me months to get to, ‘OK, maybe I actually like this song.’ ”

If their previous two releases are any indication, it’s a pretty safe bet plenty of people will be enjoying that song and the other nine on Open Me Carefully.

Some of those songs will be performed at The Rail, a show Parker has been busy preparing for.

“I kind of do the old Depeche Mode approach, which was, they’d have tape machines in the back playing backing tracks for like the drums and bass lines,” he said. “Things like that would all be on the backing track, and we’ll decide what parts we want to play. I mean, we don’t want to just be up there miming. But for the melodies and hooks and things like that, we’ll decide what we’ll actually play and what will be in the backing track.

“I just made a huge spreadsheet for it,” he said about keeping everything organized ahead of the show.

And while they hope to add some more shows in the future, they know The Rail will bring some energy with a stellar lineup on Dec. 23.

“If you want an audience, The Rail is the place to do it,” Parker said.