Letter to Yu cover

Letter to Yu

Released

Producer/singer-songwriter Bolis Pupul’s debut solo album is an inventive, engaging house, electro and synth-pop collection. It’s pleasingly retro in places; when the chorus hook in “Completely Half” hits it feels as though it’s been in your life since it was an early 80s top ten hit, and “Goodnight Mr Yi”’s introductory synth arpeggio has an equally misty-eyed, pre-digital feel, to which Pupul then adds a children’s chorus on a backdrop of rubbery bass, synthetic slivers and robot percussion, creating something that sounds both whimsical and futuristic, which is the mood for much of the album. “Frogs” is a kind of glam-rock-house cross-pollination that performs a neat sleight of hand halfway through by switching to gnarly, acidy electro-house, and is swiftly followed by “Doctor Says” which ups the gnarl factor further: it’s essentially a fat house drum track and an imposing creaking, metallic synth lead that is more of a stretch or an ache than a note or chord. But he contrasts these with twinkling electronic android lullabies like “Spicy Crab” and “Ma Tau Wai  Road” and innocent-sounding synth-pop like “Causeway Bae.” An electronic album that manages to be both edgy and occasionally tender.

Harold Heath

Suggestions
Savage cover

Savage

Eurythmics
Cologne cover

Cologne

Kaoru Akimoto
Remind Me Tomorrow cover

Remind Me Tomorrow

Sharon Van Etten
Originals cover

Originals

Balearic Mike, Moonboots
Palo Santo cover

Palo Santo

Years & Years
Sugarland cover

Sugarland

Kissing The Pink
American Dream cover

American Dream

LCD Soundsystem
Delta Machine cover

Delta Machine

Depeche Mode