Bolis Pupul

It’s no coincidence that Bolis Pupul’s music sounds the way it does. Born in Belgium to a Chinese mother and Belgian father and raised in the super-cool creative city of Ghent, Bolis’ music is a joyous cross-cultural assemblage. Mixing widescreen electronica – think early Mr Fingers-like techno and Yellow Magic Orchestra’s exuberant man-machine minimalism – with the warm-hearted and wonky naivete of Belgian New Beat, Bolis’ singular sonics are at once playful, emotive, unrelenting and tender.

The real key to unlocking Bolis’ musical secret, however, is the aforementioned conversation he has between his Eastern and Western roots. Having subconsciously touched upon Oriental melodies on his first two releases – 2016’s ‘Moon Theme’/‘Sun Theme’ and the following year’s ‘Wei’/‘Teknow’ both on the Soulwax boys’ DEEWEE label, it’s something he explores in greater detail on his 12-inch ‘Neon Buddha’.

“The first demos I made for DEEWEE had some Oriental melodies without me knowing,” Boris explains. “David and Stephen (Dewaele) pointed it out. The melodies – without thinking – had that feel.”

Growing up Bolis had not negated his Chinese roots exactly – his mother was born in Hong Kong – but he certainly hadn’t embraced them. However, in the wake of his mother passing away in 2008, he began a process of coming to terms with his heritage.

His first visit to Hong Kong in 2018, further crystallised how Bolis wanted to incorporate his Chinese legacy into his music. While there, he was encouraged by David and Stephen to write every day.

‘Neon Buddha’ was not only Bolis’ first release on DEEWEE since explicitly absorbing a new aesthetic into his musical colour scheme, but also a prequel to his solo album "Letter To Yu"

Pupul’s time is now. Don’t miss the ride.