CHINESE POSTPUNK ANTHOLOGY
We keep a gathering of records, loosely sewn from scattered remnants, not yet pressed into a shape.
Interview with Thermostat
Introduction
Thermostat was started in 2020 by a college student, Roubing, who began creating music as a bedroom project using GarageBand. Now performing as a duo with guitarist Sun Xiao, their subtle blend of lo-fi, dream pop, and shoegaze creates a dreamy, introspective sound. They describe themselves as “a poor quality lo-fi noise pop project.”
They’ve released one full album in 2023, A Very Hazy Afternoon, which is one of our best albums of that year, and two EPs, including the pretty impressive Daria, released in March 2025.
This interview was conducted via email, with the questions in English and the answers in Chinese. For the convenience of readers, we have prepared this bilingual English-Chinese version using machine translation tools.
The Story Behind Thermostat
Toma: Thermostat is essentially your personal project. Meanwhile, you perform live as a duo, and I noticed a musician called Sun Xiao credited in the Daria’s liner notes. Could you tell me a bit more about how you create music now.
Roubing: Hi, Toma! Thermostat is a personal project I started in 2020. At the time, I was a university student, and my previous band had fallen apart for various reasons. During the pandemic, while I was taking online classes at home, I got myself an iPad and, like many DIY musicians, I began creating music using GarageBand.
My early creative process involved connecting a guitar to an iRig and recording on the iPad. You can listen to those early demos on StreetVoice—they sound very rough now, but I feel they carry a more natural and sincere emotion compared to my current work.
Sun Xiao is a member of Thermostat for live performances. The two of us, plus a drum machine and a Roland SP404, complete Thermostat’s live setup. He’s also my colleague (yes, we both currently work at StreetVoice’s Beijing office). Sun Xiao has been a lot of help—he’s an excellent guitarist and creator. He even has his own project called The Day the Photos Were Sent to the Shop. He contributed to the recording of some tracks, including the guitar, mixing, and mastering for Don’t Worry, I’m an Idiot, which you like.
I believe the music style I love doesn’t require many collaborators and I’m not a great band leader, so a duo project with occasional collaborations gives me more freedom.
Toma: What inspired you to begin this project? Since 2020 was a time of quarantine due to COVID-19, I want to know how that period had an impact on your decision to start the project.
Roubing: I started this project because I felt capable of creating music and wasn’t content playing a particular instrument as others demanded. Perhaps being stuck at home for a long time during the COVID-19 pandemic created a kind of mood. The music that comforted me during that period helped me discover a style I prefer.
Toma: Could you give me an overview of how the project has developed over time? I’m interested to know how your life and musical style have evolved.
Roubing: Over the past five years, from 2020 to now, Thermostat hasn’t changed much. Personally, I transitioned from being a student to a member of the music industry. Perhaps because I turned my hobby into my job, my life is now filled with music, which has noticeably reduced my creative drive and output frequency. However, I’m consciously seeking new directions for stylistic change, moving away from merely imitating others and aiming for a quieter state.
Toma: What sort of music did you grow up listening to? Even beyond musical influences on your own work.
Roubing: The first music I was exposed to as a kid was Michael Jackson. But I was shallow and cared about his cool looks rather than the music itself. In my high school period, I started learning guitar. My influences were Chinese indie folk, and some European and American bands, and I practiced from Coldplay to The Raveonettes and Mew.
Toma: You’re currently based in Beijing. Were you born there or did you move from somewhere else?
Roubing: Yes, I’ve lived in Beijing since I was a kid, and I’ve never left the city for more than a month. I spent my entire primary, secondary and university years in this city, and I still live with my parents, which I’m a bit self-conscious about.
Thermostat’s Musical Style
Toma: When I first listened to Thermostat, I think of the independent music in southern China. So I was a little surprised to find out you’re based in Beijing. To outsiders like me, Beijing’s indie scene is often associated with intense rock and punk, but Thermostat’s sound feels distinct. How do you see your relationship with the local independent scene?
Roubing: I don’t think there’s necessarily a direct correlation between the city I live in and the style of music I like. Beijing’s indie scene may have an image of rock and punk, and I’m probably one of the outliers. But there are still many Beijing influences, such as Maybe Mars (label), Queen Sea Big Shark, and Ourself Beside Me, which I loved in high school, as well as Space Fruity Records and its manager Zhai, whose project is called me:mo and is somewhat of an idol of mine.
I think in a city large enough, you can always find your favorite cultural niche. Of course a lot of bands from southern China are much more in tune with my style, and I’m curious about this stylistic clustering and regional characterization. Probably the DIY spirit and the humid air and long summers are more likely to give birth to interesting dream pop and shoegaze music.
Toma: On Bandcamp, your music is tagged as dream pop and shoegaze. It feels quite distinct from the typical sound of those genres. It reminds me a little of some southern musicians, such as The Cheers Cheers or Ecke Wu. How would you personally describe your musical style or genre?
Roubing: To be honest, I chose those tags to make it easier for listeners to understand. It’s difficult to label music, and the style of Thermostat’s work is ever-changing. If I had to summarise my current style, I’d want it to be something between ambient, dream pop, and lo-fi.
Toma: The use of drum machines and looping rhythms brings to mind old video game and feels like a conscious departure from rock’s dynamism, creating more introspective and personal vibe. It seems to share something with German progressive rock and the psychedelic roots of dream pop and shoegaze.
Roubing: Yes, besides indie pop, dream pop and such genres, I often listen to some good drum machine music including African rhythms, and the types of krautrock you mentioned. The repetitive, mechanical rhythms are more fascinating to me.
Toma: Listening to Thermostat, sometimes reminded me of Brian Eno. Even though I only know Another Green World, I’ve read that he’s considered a pioneer of ambient music.
Roubing: Thank you for comparing me to a master of movie scores! Haha! But my knowledge of Brian Eno is also limited to some Hollywood movie soundtracks. For ambient music, I’d personally favor the aforementioned me:mo and Gaussian Curve from Europe. They are more of an influence on me.
About Daria
Toma: The phrase “a lost toy puppy” in the liner notes of Daria was especially impressive. Does it symbolize something like a childhood memory of innocence, or perhaps a long-time best friend? If there’s a specific story behind the phrase, I’d be very interested to hear it.
Roubing: No, it isn’t. This puppy is a little doll that my girlfriend and I happened to get at a flea market last year, without a brand or a name, but we gladly purchased it because of the quirky color scheme and the fact that it was a second-hand toy that an elderly grandma who lived in the city gathered up, and it only cost us 5 RMB.
Then I hung it on my tote bag as a decoration. Once on the subway on my way home, it was so crowded that it got squeezed off and I couldn’t find it again. I felt so sorry and regretful that I decided to draw it as is for the next EP.
Toma: I didn’t sense the kind of sentimentality typical of emo, nor a straightforward sense of nostalgia. Instead, I felt a certain distance, something quieter and more introspective. What kind of feelings or memories did you hope to convey with this EP?
Roubing: There’s a lot of emotion on the Daria EP, and overall it’s a mood change from down to positive. The first song is basically a more ambient style of music that I’ll be trying out in the future, and the middle two pieces return to elements of noise-pop, synth-pop, and shoegaze elements that I’ve attempted many times before. The end of the song’s title, “Lily’s Not My Fan” is actually a Chinese translation of “li li nuo mi fan” (哩哩糯米饭), a breakfast restaurant in Guangxi Province, China, and I’ve used some of the tropical arrangement ideas as well, so I hope it’s somewhat more refreshing.
Toma: I noticed each track includes a copyright statement that forbids covers, which is quite unusual. Is this part of an intentional artistic policy? Covers and cover videos are often seen as ways to spread an artist’s popularity. Does this reflect a more cautious attitude toward public exposure?
Roubing: No, no, it’s just a standard copyright statement from my distributor, perhaps because music piracy is a bigger issue in China. If it feels harsh to overseas listeners, I’m sorry!
Future Prospects
Toma: It’s been two years since your last full-length album. Do you have any plans or ideas for the next release? If you’re working on something, I’d love to hear about its progress. And, Thermostat have any upcoming plans for live shows, tours, or other releases?
Roubing: There are some demos in the computer at the moment. But I’m trying to slow down the pace of making music. I’m going to arrange the music using phone recordings before starting the final recording. I always feel like there’s a lot I could have done better with my previous work, so this time I’m setting myself a period of two years to complete a work of at least 8 songs.
I don’t really enjoy live performances, but some of the smaller local showcases will still be on our schedule. Stay tuned!
Also, I’ll be finishing the physical version of Daria this year as soon as possible!
Toma: By the way, I was pleased to see Thermostat featured on chainhana’s Such a World, alongside several other indie musicians. How did that collaboration come about? If there’s a story behind it, or anything interesting from the process, you’d be very welcome to share it!
Roubing: This piece is the final song on her first full length album, Za Nang Zz Nang. The demo resembles Chinese children’s song. Having studied vocal performance, she didn’t think her voice was rich enough on its own, so she gathered her friends to sing along, then she edited and spliced it. I was lucky enough to be one of them. I’m so proud to say that I nailed the part I sang in just one take.