Fresh off the back of a debut album with sidekick Charlotte Adigéry, Belgium-Chinese musician Bolis Pupul explores themes of heritage and identity on his new solo two-track 12-inch ‘Neon Buddha’ – out 6th May via Soulwax’s DEEWEE.
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 title track is inspired by a dream Bolis had of a pagoda in Hong Kong featuring a contemplative Buddha made of neon lights. The music is similarly bright and exciting – an insistent acid squiggle giving the track the requisite Weatherall-friendly A Love from Outer Space chug.
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 melodies his Chinese ancestor’s grew up on for 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 ‘Neon Buddha’.
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.
“When I started to think about my roots, instead of being ashamed of them, I started to become proud of them,” he recalls. “And so it became more and more important for me to get in touch with them. I went to evening school here and began learning Chinese. I did that for four years. That was the first step.”
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.
“It could be just one melody, it could be a rhythm, or some field recordings,” he says. “I had my laptop with me. I could work on the subway, in restaurants, in parks or near the sea. I was there for three weeks, and I wrote a few songs and when I came back to Ghent, I listened to it with Stephen and David, and they really liked the things I had made.”
‘Neon Buddha’ then is not only Bolis’ first release on DEEWEE since explicitly absorbing a new aesthetic into his musical colour scheme, but he also says the release acts as a prequel to an album that will delve further into such themes.