Sunking visits Bend Dec. 9.

Bobby Granfelt and Antoine Martel have been friends and musical mates since they were kids, but their latest venture together, Sunking, stretches back to one particular evening in 2015.

Both were back home in the Northwest after spending time elsewhere.

“I wanted to start a little project that was crazy jazz fusion and crazy drums, like on some Flying Lotus-type vibes,” Granfelt said, referencing the renowned Los Angeles producer known for his experimental collisions of hip-hop, jazz and electronic music.

“We recorded that day and it was late at night and I was very tired, and I didn’t really feel like playing anything that crazy,” he continued. “So I just played a really simple beat and I fell asleep on the couch, and when I woke up, Antoine had given it melodic and harmonic content and had made a whole actual beat.”

Both men loved what they’d created, so they made another and another and another until they had 60 tracks in all.

The timing was perfect for Martel, a trained pianist who had spent time in Montreal playing folk music and feeling not particularly excited about it.

“I distinctly remember taking the metro to go rehearse and having this realization that I was just doing the wrong thing,” he said. “I was listening to a lot of Flying Lotus and thinking, ‘This is what I should be doing! What am I doing playing acoustic guitar all the time?’”

In Sunking, Martel plays a variety of synthesizers and Granfelt handles percussion, though those lines have blurred in recent years as the two have learned from each other.

“There has never been a point where we were like, ‘Let’s make this or that,’” Granfelt said. “It’s more like: We hang out and we make stuff. We see what happens. There are no rules.”

Those 60 tracks the duo made several years ago have turned out to be very productive, forming the foundation of Sunking’s first two albums — 2019’s self-titled and its follow-up, “Smug,” which just came out on Anti- Records in mid-November. Across its 19 tracks, you can hear the Flying Lotus influence, tempered just a bit by the duo’s interests in dreamy indie rock, psychedelic and shoegaze vibes, and more conventional jazz.

Fun fact: Both Granfelt and Martel play in the excellent Seattle psych-jazz band High Pulp, which revolves around a group of seven core members.

Sunking gives them a chance to strip down their creative process and play off their musical chemistry without having to worry about what various people think or other barriers.

“It was really empowering to figure out that we could just record songs ourselves,” Granfelt said. “Up till then, we had played in more traditional bands where you write in the garage and then you go into a studio and you record. It’s a whole process, as opposed to, like …”

Here, Martel jumps in to finish the thought: “Me and Bobby have always just had a pretty quick and smooth sort of music-making magic dust.”

As simply and straightforwardly as he can, Granfelt concurs with his old pal.

“Yeah,” he said. “Good things happen.”

What: Sunking

When: 6-8 p.m. Dec. 9

Where: Silver Moon Brewing, 24 NW Greenwood Ave., Bend

Cost: free

Contact: silvermoonbrewing.com