Seoul-based indie pop duo Goodmorning Pancake are experts at turning the small, messy moments of life into something unexpectedly charming.
Formed in 2020 by friends Sunny and Ampoff, the pair craft dreamy, nostalgic tracks inspired by slow mornings, pancakes, and the in-between spaces where life is sweet, messy, and a little funny.
Their latest EP, Ah!Chim!, released August 25, plays with Korean wordplay, flirtatious bossa nova vibes, and cozy city-pop textures, offering a snapshot of the duo’s playful yet heartfelt world.
In our chat, Sunny and Ampoff unpack everything from the messy origins of their band name to the joys of DIY music-making, revealing the real lives behind their whimsical sound.
HAPPY: What’d you get up to today?
SUNNY: I opened my eyes to the sound of my alarm clock, snoozed it like 5 times and finally got up cuz I was hungry.
AMPOFF: I woke up to my girlfriend’s call and my two cats complaining that it’s food-o-clock.
HAPPY: Tell us a little about where you’re from, and what you love about it!
SUNNY: We are both from South Korea. But I do introduce myself as someone from the Philippines as well.
I was born in Korea, but I moved to the Philippines when I was 9 years old and came back to Korea at 19.
So I have more childhood memories there. I love both Korea and the Philippines.
I’d say I love how friendly the people are in both countries. In very different ways, but still friendly.
Oh and nothing beats the mangoes and bananas in the Philippines.
Ampoff: I am from South Korea. Of course, South. Korea. My hometown was a very interesting place.
It’s called Eunpyeong-gu in Seoul. It’s a nice place now, but before it got developed, it was the dark side of Seoul.
It was very wild. Everybody fought each other a lot, but I liked my neighbors’ honest and raw lives.
HAPPY: How did Goodmorning Pancake first come together, and who/what inspired your quirky, comforting sound?
SUNNY: We met around 2017 through mutual musician friends. We both played at an opening party for a new Italian restaurant.
It was actually a crazy day because Ampoff’s puppy had passed away right before the show, and everyone was worried.
He still stayed until the end of the show, and I respected him a lot for that.
Anyways, we got to talk more about music after the show and at that time Ampoff was doing guitar sessions and starting track-making, and I was just beginning to write my own songs.
So we decided to try something together.
Few weeks later, Ampoff made a track and he thought it’d be fun to sing Sunday Morning by Maroon 5 on top of it.
I went over to his studio and recorded some vocals and we had so much fun making the track.
We named it Your Sunday and uploaded it on Soundcloud. Somehow it blew up on TikTok.
That’s when we decided to keep making more music that felt like an easy, lazy Sunday.
When we were finishing our debut single Getup, Ampoff randomly suggested the name Goodmorning Pancake.
He thought it sounded ridiculous, and that’s exactly why we loved it—because we wanted people to think, “what kind of ridiculous band name is that?” and I think that’s kind of been our vibe from the start, mixing jokes with the question, “what sounds fun and chill?”
HAPPY: From production to artwork, you handle everything yourselves with friends. Why is maintaining that DIY approach important to you?
GOODMORNING PANCAKE: Because we are broke! LOL true indie life! Just kidding.
SUNNY: At first I wasn’t sure of it, but with each project I realized it’s so much more fun to work with friends.
Our projects always turn into memories and we learn new things together along the way.
I also love that we get to play around with other art forms like visuals, album covers, or music videos and build a little world around our concept.
And when we do it with friends, it feels like a conversation, and their personalities end up in the work too.
That adds extra value and energy to the music, at least for me.
AMPOFF: Honestly, I think every musician goes through this phase where you get obsessed with making money or becoming famous.
But once you step away from that a little, I think you find a more unique character in your music.
For us, it feels the most “us” when it’s rough and raw.
That unrefined vibe is what makes it stand out. It’s not perfect, but I think that’s exactly what makes it cool.
HAPPY: The EP’s title ‘Ah!Chim!’ plays with Korean wordplay. What made you choose it, and what does it represent to you?
GOODMORNING PANCAKE: In Korean, achim means “morning” and chim also means “saliva”.
So our EP title can mean both “Morning!” or “Ah! Drool!” And here’s the funny part—achim is also the word for “breakfast.”
So it ends up being morning, breakfast, drool, pancakes… basically everything we are, all rolled into one.
AMPOFF: In planning a concept for the EP, we were focused on the word ‘morning.’
Music that people want to listen to in the morning when they start their day, whether it be a busy one or a lazy one.
So we were having this conversation about the concept and our friend Youbin made a pun, saying ‘wouldn’t it be perfect if you guys put Ah!Chim! With someone drooling over pancakes?’ and we loved the idea.
SUNNY: And drooling (chim) has two sides. When do we drool? It’s when we see something yummy, or when we’re so exhausted that we can’t even close our mouth.
To me, that’s what life is like and I think that’s what this album represents.
It’s mostly sweet and fun but also has moments that are bitter, spicy and full of flavor. We tried to really expand our sound with this EP.
Ampoff brought in new elements like city pop, French pop, and more band-driven textures, creating a fresh and colorful landscape in our music.
So whatever flavor life gives you, wherever you are, you just take it in and start your day. That’s Ah!Chim!
HAPPY: ‘PewPew (feat. SHIRT)’ has some bossa nova influences, what drew you to that sound for a song about playful tension?
AMPOFF: I started this song with a bossa nova style, but I wanted to add the playful, smooth, and sexy energy that I love in Remi Wolf’s music.
It actually blended really well with the bossa nova feel. At the time, I was really into her producer Solomonophonic’s style which is fun, sexy, and easy to listen to.
I wanted to bring some of that into this song. With the flirty, sensual vibe of the lyrics, everything just came together perfectly in PewPew.
Having SHIRT’s male vocals on the track completed the storytelling and his sweet and soulful singing made the whole song feel even more dynamic.
HAPPY: Why did you choose to end the EP with a voice memo?
SUNNY: The last track, See You Later Sunflower is kind of a teaser track for a fuller version of Sunflower which might come out in another EP or as a single.
We wanted to add more jazzy vibes to the song and didn’t think it fit well with the rest of the tracks in Ah!Chim!
And honestly… we ran out of time to work on it. LOL. I caught Hand, Foot and Mouth disease from my 1 year-old nephew (so random, and the worst timing ever) right in the middle of my recording week and Ampoff had a massive heartbreak.
So we were basically a zombie duo in July.
HAPPY: If ‘Ah!Chim!’ were a breakfast food (other than pancakes), what would it be and why?
AMPOFF: Froot Loops cereal because it’s colorful, and morning is when you choose your color of the day.
SUNNY: Damn. That’s deep.
HAPPY: What’s one thing you hope listeners take away from this EP?
SUNNY: For me, as always, it’s the fun and the comfort that we try to put in our music but for Ah!Chim! It’s the feeling of love.
I think all 5 songs that we included were love songs or some sort. Betty Botter is something I wrote for myself and all my fellow anxious friends so it’s something like self-love.
I wrote Moggoji when I was losing people in my life and I got scared to miss them.
I hope you feel love and I hope this EP gives you a fun and safe space to feel something, everything or even nothing.
AMPOFF: Sometimes I wish people would just see us as a couple of fools with no struggles in life, but that’s not the reality.
Our music might make it seem like we live a happy, simple life and simply put that into songs, but that’s not the whole story.
We’ve made a lot of bubbly and quirky tracks, but this EP is our first step in showing that we’re not only that. T
here’s more to come from us, so please look forward to it!
HAPPY: Lastly, what makes you happy?
SUNNY: First cup of coffee of the day. Makes me feel invincible! Even better if I get to share it with my favorite people.
AMPOFF: Money… no, I mean… I think both Sunny and I are happiest when we’re with people we love, just spending good time together. That’s the best. And… well… money, too.
