A Conversation with 1LDK

Merriam Webster’s word of 2025 was slop, and understandably so, a lot of what many would call “slop” took hold of our pretty wide eyes last year. Whether it be the rise of AI polluting our feeds or the seemingly endless amount of violence worldwide, I think it’s fair to say that 2025 was a pretty slop infested year. But,  I would argue that 2025 also brought along a lot of swag as well. Potentially one of the swaggiest sonic treasures of 2025 for me, was the emergence of Tokyo’s 1LDK. 

A indietronica pop duo formed of Amsterdam’s very own Goos Dijkstra (aka Yoong) and Beijing born writer and vocalist Yiqing Yan, 1LDK’s delicate tracks hum, stutter, and buzz just when you need them to. Like a long forgotten lullaby, 1LDK’s debut single, Spring Dream, found me immediately entranced as fluttering electronics sprinkle in and about Yiqing’s beautifully hushed words. A 1LDK, a Japanese term for a 1-bedroom apartment, is felt throughout their music. It’s noticeably and beautifully human, with lyrics spanning Japanese, Chinese and English, meaning and emotion can be felt without you having to pull out Google Translate…and I would say that is pretty swaggy.

In their visual world, their tracks are translated with a similarly simple yet charming aura – taking bubble baths alongside balloons and inflatable ducks or filming your favorite band at the show, taking screenshots to not miss any moment (in BW colorgrading of course). 1LDK makes music for these subdued but equally special moments:  for commutes, for intimate bedroom dance parties with your friends, for winding down after a long day. Music about memories that makes you want to make memories too <3

After releasing their self-titled debut LP last month, I sat down over a video call with Goos & Yiqing (Goos seemingly calling from the side of the street somewhere in Tokyo?, Yiqing in the to-be-discussed 1LDK) to learn a bit more about the thoughts, feelings, and inspirations behind their work.

Gabi: To start off I don’t want to focus too much on the band name, I don’t want to be so corny like that. But outside of the traditional meaning of 1LDK, your work is still bedroom produced right?

Goos: Yeah.

Gabi: Does the bedroom setting inform your work at all?

G: Well it’s Yiqing’s bedroom so…

Yiqing: It’s my bedroom but you bring the music here first.

G: I will usually make an instrumental first, and I mean that’s something I’ve been doing for like ten years, just like making music on my computer. It’s like, I usually find myself making music when I actually have to do something else. Like if I really have 6 hours to make music nothing really ever comes out of it, like I really actually have to be doing something else. So like I will make something before going to work or before meeting up with people. I find that usually works best if you don’t overthink it or tweak it too much. I often go to a cafe to work but then I don’t feel like doing stuff for my day-job so I usually end up making music…which feels both productive and unproductive in a weird way because it’s productive for my own career but not so much for everything else haha.

Gabi: Yeah, I feel you there.

G: It often stems from procrastination, but when we work in Yiqing’s room it’s quite different, I mean we are friends so we would be hanging out in Yiqing’s room anyways.

Gabi: So, very naturally?

G: Yeah, I mean we never just record, we always have dinner or hangout or talk about life or whatever.

Gabi:  I see. When I first heard of 1LDK, Amsterdam – Tokyo, my first connection was well… the housing crisis. Is it similar Tokyo?

G: No, it’s so chill. there are many things that are difficult about living in Tokyo but finding a room is definitely not one of them, it’s insane. It’s so hard for European people to believe that, but you can just go to a real estate agent and rent a place.

Gabi: Wow, insane to hear. When I was beginning to write, I was starting to make that connection but then I was like, “I actually have no idea if that is the case at all in Tokyo as it is here.”

It feels very inward, like I’m looking in. I go out a lot so I’m rarely in my bedroom, so this time I’m looking in, I’m writing about things that happened outside, I’m writing about the stories and feelings.

G: Yeah, no it’s not a struggle. It’s insane coming from Amsterdam, I’ve lived in so many places in Amsterdam and it never occurred to me like “ I want to live in the West.” You can’t choose.

Y: I think producing in the bedroom is this kind of a D.I.Y stereotype,  but now that you are asking that question,  I think, it is in my own living space and it does feel very natural as a part of my life. It feels really special to us because we are actually at the point where we are about to do a recording camp session. We are gonna take the studio out of the bedroom. So, it may be really different from what we have done before. But at this point, it feels really introspective  and intimate, I mean I used to write in my bedroom, I used to write diaries a lot. But now these music sessions have become where I sit down and become introspective and put things down in a creative way. It feels very inward, like I’m looking in. I go out a lot so I’m rarely in my bedroom, so this time I’m looking in, I’m writing about things that happened outside, I’m writing about the stories and feelings. So, I think if we were to write outside somewhere it would be much more inside-out process for me. I think that’s how being in the bedroom really affects how I write in our songs.

Gabi: For sure, this really hits on my next question, because I read that you (Yiqing) were a writer first before becoming a lyricist. I was wondering, how the change was for you, or did it even feel like a change at all?

Y: I think the way I write about things is the same, about telling stories that happen outside, I’m in my bedroom writing things, I’m in my bedroom writing lyrics, but I just always knew I could write lyrics. I just didn’t know what kind of music it would go to. I never really thought so much about music up until this point, because now the lyrics have to go on to something and that’s a really big part of it. So it kind of slowly changed my way of seeing music, but the way I tell stories is the same, I feel like my writing stories and lyrics still feel very similar to me.

Gabi: Wow, what a beautiful response, thank you. Okay, now to talk a bit more about the music, Femme Fatale is probably one of my favourite 1LDK songs, is that a direct Velvet Underground reference or were you guys just drawing on the whole “femme fatale” concept there?

Y: It’s just more like, one of these nights, I was on my couch and Goos was in the room doing one of our music sessions, and I was like “Oh, I just found out about the old Lana Del Rey stuff before she was Lana Del Rey.” like literally 5 minutes before that I found out Lana Del Rey was not Lana Del Rey before (referring to Lana Del Rey’s older work).

Gabi: I love that.

Y: Like the night before I was listening to her stuff, and I was like wow the vocals are so nice, wow I like this song called Kinda Outta Luck. Everytime I listen to a song, if its a female vocal I will look up the lyrics, I actually don’t care what guys are saying haha. I can’t be bothered to look up what any rapper is saying.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Gabi: Hahaha same.

Y: If it’s a girl I will definitely look up what they are saying, and I think I took part of it and then he (Goos) was playing this demo and I was like maybe this one can work? Lets just rewrite it, and then I had another story in mind, so I just kept writing it to finish the whole story. But it’s kind of the first time I thought of borrowing some lyrics, we only had three song before and I was like, “I need to write completely new things.” Goos was like, “It doesn’t have to be like that, you can make references.”

G: I think its funny because we were just discuss its kind of cool todo a cover but we can’t do a Bladee cover, it has to refer back to something unexpected. I also think about where the idea came from. I think in the instrumental that I make a lot of the ideas are not 100% new, I don’t claim to reinvent the wheel. If you know the inspiration behind the instrumentals its like there. You know what I mean?

Gabi: Yea for sure, I’m only just starting to make music now, but that also really helps me, this thing of “everything is a remix”, so many things have been created before and taking pieces and spinning it can be so much more fun.

 Gabi: So this question is for Goos, in your solo work I hear so much influences from older electronic pop from the 90s. 800 Cherries is one that comes to mind. How did you get into this niche in the first place? 

G: It’s funny that you mention 800 Cherries and these Shibuya Kei…I don’t know I’ve always been digging music. A really big influence for me is Pizzicato 5, and I quite dislike 90% of their music.

Y: Really edgy.

G: A very contrarian take lol.

Gabi: Lol “I hate it!”

Y: It’s his biggest inspiration but he hates 80% of it. Goos go off.

G: As dumb as it sounds it’s really true haha, because this whole scene of Shibuya Kei was about being trendy, just releasing loads of music. It was like Tiktok before Tiktok, you just needed to drop so much shit. Like on their albums, every album will have two really good tracks, but because it’s so poppy, the whole visual direction is so well thought about. Thats always one of the things I find really interesting with music. One of the first bands I really liked was Gorillaz because there was clearly something outside of just the music itself. The music is great as well. I’m really inspired by Shibuya Kei but half of my fascination with it is that I really like all the sleeves and covers and photoshoots and fashion. I will also get inspired by the music for sure, there’s stuff I absolutely love from Pizzicato 5. But I think I also just really like the digging aspect to it, that’s something I always love. The digging becomes more fun if the first 9 tracks are a bit bad.

Gabi: Yeah, it’s definitely a process in itself.

G: Yeah, and if the 10th track is really sick, then it just feels better that you had to go through 1-9 to find it. Maybe a bit of an annoying take.

Y: No, it’s a perfect take, I’m learning.

Gabi: Yea, it’s a very intentional way of discovering music, which I really appreciate, because I’m totally online.

Gabi: You guys blew up really quick, I mean playing for Mechatok last year. How has that rise been?

Y: I think that was the time when we were still testing out songs in live performances, it felt like a great trial…on a stage of 700 people.

G: It was kind of insane thinking back.

Y: I hadn’t performed that many times before, but I wasn;t really worried or anything I was just like “fuck it, lets do it”. But now I have had to start to think more, so I don’t think I would be able to play like that.

Gabi: What really stands out to me about the whole Seedlink+ stuff but also your guy’s work, is in the whole “electronic niche underground scene” – whatever you want to call it, right now there’s a lot of this hyper produced stuff that is super in. But what you guys do feels a bit analog in a way, I mean I know you can still use analog synths or whatever, but when I listen to 1LDK it feels much less flashy and a bit more understated. Is this a part of the intention here?

Y: I think it’s a part of the dynamics that we have right now, not over thinking what we are doing. I also feel like we are at the point were we sit down and talk about music a bit differently.

G: From a production perspective I’m just not so interested in nerding out on the technical side. The songs I am inspired by, they weren’t made with crazy gear, I don’t moved by a really good snare drum. A lot of people work for hours and hours for a good snare but I think I just like a good melody, which is not so good on the technical side. I like songs, I don’t like sound design, I think that’s my main point.

Gabi: I think what really comes through for me and the people around me as listeners is this light, twee-like, vulnerability. Does this resonate?

G: Yeah, I think I always want my music to sound kind of naive, which is similar to it not being overproduced. After we make a song, I will mix it, but I won’t change that much in the whole production, I always want to keep the magic of what happens when we record it.

Y: Yeah, I think when I first listened to Yoong’s (Goos’s independent work) stuff, I think me and my friend made a joke that was like, “This music has no emotion but it just flows!” haha.

Gabi: Lol no thoughts behind it.

Y: Haha, I think he meant it’s not emo at all. I think a lot of music, hyperpop-like or not, it just feels overly extracted, which sounds so consuming in a way to my ears. I don’t like music that feels overly emotionally extracted, its just like – I’m already feeling a lot. I want to listen to something to take me away from it or give me something new. I think that’s something that I also feel from Goos’s production.

G: I think it also just reflects our personality as well, the music is kind of serious but I hope listening to a 1LDK release – it’s kind of emo it’s not necessarily happy.

Y: Oh we are sooo emo lol.

Gabi: Oh sooo emo.

G: Yes it’s emo, but I think you can tell we also like to have fun or make jokes. There are definitely some jokes in the tracks as well.

Gabi: Definitely I see that. Okay: rapid fire question time! Top art/music picks in Japan?

Y: I’m a bit biased, but definitely this band pinponpanpon, their work is great for such a DIY group. That’s their life. If you go to their house their work is everywhere, they are so passionate about getting better and it’s never coming from a way of “Oh, lets just get trashed.” I’ve never seen such work ethic and such fun from someone, I’m really genuinely impressed by have so much respect for them.

G: I would cosign pinponpanpon as well. Theres also a gallery here called 4649.  I would have to say Thinner Groove, this label that is my favorite right now in Tokyo.

Gabi: Top Amsterdam/ NL picks? Preferably not too Seedlink+ related.

G: It’ s related but I want to shout out Reni (artist Baby Reni), maybe a bit Seedlink+ related, but that’s day one.

Y: I met this girl who is Job’s (referring to artist Job Frieling aka Screenage DJ aka Inkscreen) best friend, who I found to be such a personality and in the scene, Klaudia (artist orczi96). She has such a strong inspiration to people and presence.

Gabi: Yeah, I totally see what you mean, I also met her recently at a gig and she’s super sick, I also found her to be so special, she was bit a guardian angel to me that night lol.

Gabi: If the music of 1LDK was an animal, what animal would it be?

G: Oooh I like that question… a meerkat.

Y: I think it would be a cat! Or  a parrot with a really long tail.

Gabi: First musical love?

G: Gorillaz.

Y: Jay Chou.

Listen to 1LDK’s debut LP here.
All images courtesy of the artists.