MPAC is proud to present Fangbo Yuan (Pops Class of 2019) as one of our featured Pops Bloggers. Follow the adventures of Fangbo and Lexi Hamlin (‘19) as they navigate the new world of music in these Covid-19 times.

2020 was supposed to be an eventful year for Central Limit, the musical project I launched with fellow Pops alum Lexi Hamlin in the summer of 2018. We were coming off a year-long hiatus due to Lexi studying for the Dental Admissions Test (DAT), and 2020 was going to see us make up for lost time. We had it all planned out--shows in coffee shops, open mics, boba shops, private events, and venues all around Metro Detroit. We were going to release a boatload of new music, and liven up our old material with fresh violin arrangements. All of it would be promoted online, maybe even on a dedicated website...Not to mention, we had finished our arrangement of “Endless Summer” for a small chamber group, ready for submission to the NPR Tiny Desk Concert.

We all know what happened next. As the world ground to a halt, venues shut their doors. Our friends (aka musical collaborators) dispersed around the country. I headed home from Ann Arbor to be with my family. Lexi doubled down in Royal Oak, in accordance with safety guidelines issued around the world. It’s nothing to complain about--I’m extremely grateful that I’ve still got my day job. Lexi aced her part-time classes and is getting a head start on dental school applications. But the fact is that we spent a lot of time and energy planning for an “Endless Summer” of Central Limit-related shenanigans. So I’d be lying if it wasn’t challenging figuring out what to do next.

Rehearsals themselves became hard to coordinate. For a while, we tried finding alternative ways to practice together--but confusing technology is confusing. (Write a shell script to create a virtual rehearsal room? HARD PASS.) Also, as the pandemic picked up in the States, many of our friends’ priorities shifted to things of more lasting importance. Tiny Desk would have to wait, just like live performances and rehearsals without lag or feedback.

Central Limit now has to shift its vision for 2020. But to what exactly? Of course, countless artists have been uploading solo stuff online, and streaming from their living rooms. A substantial subset of them have written songs specially about covid-19. For me, respectable as those efforts are, it isn’t a direction I want to pursue. I’ve seen firsthand that no amount of “uplifting” can erase the living nightmare people face when their loved ones come back from a shift in the hospital. What I’ve seen can work, though, is pure escapism.

I think there’s a reason people have gravitated to devouring all of Netflix, Disney+, and the old books and shows from their childhoods. As Loren Eisley wrote in a review of The Lord of the Rings for the New York Herald Tribune, “...the adult mind has, if anything, greater need for fantasy than that of a child…” That couldn’t be more resonant right now, and it’s a worthy mantle for Central Limit to take up.

In that light, we’ll release new music periodically, but it won’t be any different music than what we would’ve done. No special song for the times. And probably no live streaming either--let’s face it, what even is Central Limit? We just want to do our part to indulge people in some fun. And maybe even bring back some old Pops movie magic to help.

And that brings us to our first entry: “Fall Dream”, a song that lived as a chord progression for the better part of two years. Hope you enjoy the music and the accompanying video. And it would mean the world for us if you join us on our musical adventures, both on our online platforms and through this blog.

Video link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b_crT3_bSMA

Fangbo Yuan and Lexi Hamlin 6/1/20

Central Limit was founded in 2018 by Fangbo Yuan (Data Science ‘19) and Lexi Hamlin (BCN ‘19). Fangbo played in Pops for all eight semesters of undergrad and served as Technical Director from 2016 to 2019. Lexi spent her senior season with the orchestra and is now applying to dental schools.

Like Central Limit: facebook.com/centrallimitmusic

Listen to Central Limit: soundcloud.com/central-limit and CentralLimitMusic