“‘MIXED FEELINGS’ is the best way to describe how it feels to be alive in 2024 – a lot of contradictory emotions; a lot of nonsense.”
The Ed Banger affiliate delivers his much-anticipated, fortifying second album, bursting with choice collaborations, conflicting emotions and a refreshing perspective on production and sound design.
Like a mic onto the floor, Boston Bun drops his album-of-the-year contender, the much-anticipated ‘MIXED FEELINGS’, releasing today on Future Classic.
His second album, this 11-track LP concludes a year of “contradictory emotions” for Bun, emotionally torn between the birth of his child and family tragedies. A year also full of career highlights, including building his live show for the first time, ‘MIXED FEELINGS’ follows his recent show to 60,000 people live as part of the star-studded closing ceremony of the Paris Paralympics (watch HERE) in September. Here, he was joined onstage by Chloé Caillet, Busy P, Jean-Michel Jarre, Braxe & Falcon, Martin Solveig and more.
‘MIXED FEELINGS’ is “a reflection on the ephemerality of our societies,” says Bun. “Art, objects, human skills, or relationships—everything is more ephemeral than ever. It makes us feel replaceable.
“I started to think of all of my productions as emotional postcards that I sent to the future,” he explains. “I imagined a random kid somewhere in the world finding out about these tracks in 100 years, listening to a weird pirate radio. From then, inspiration was unlimited.
“‘MIXED FEELINGS’ is the best way to describe how it feels to be alive in 2024 – a lot of contradictory emotions; a lot of nonsense. You can be at a party, look at your phone, see a city being bombed live somewhere, a flooding killing thousands somewhere else, and put your phone back in your pocket and keep dancing.”
When making the opening track ‘NOBODY // ME’, Boston Bun – real name Thibaud Noyer – was “looking for the perfect balance between crying and dancing”. In it, an off-kilter pitchy synth ebbs and flows, pans quickly from left to right and morphs from a simple click to a bulging, resonant beast, negotiating with the track’s clean drum break and rich, soulful vocals. A heavily modulated filtered choral voice is thrown into the mix too to heighten the drama.
Proving its status as a hit, ‘NOBODY // ME’ was recently announced as part of the FC (FKA FIFA) 25 soundtrack, joining major artists like Billie Eilish, Charli XCX, Glass Animals, Fred again.., Disclosure, and many more.
On the second track ‘NEVER CHANGE // LET IT GO’ (live session HERE), Noyer creates warmth through a soulful R&B style vocal sample, coupled with an uplifting acoustic piano riff, and creates a groove from frenzied drums and a jutting, gated vocal.
Moving past the spacious and ethereal breaks-driven ‘Orbital – Belfast’-esque ‘ADMIRATION // JEALOUSY’ and the French touch-inspired ‘RELIEVED// GUILTY’ and ‘HOLD ON // MOVE ON’, a key moment on ‘MIXED FEELINGS’ is ‘MAYBE // YES’. The track, released as a single in May, has garnered over 80,000 streams and features the vocals of long-time friend, the St. Lucian, London-raised and Paris-based artist Poté, who released his Damon Albarn-featuring debut album in 2021. Here, he sings about sincerity (“If you don’t know, don’t just say yes”) over a deeply emotional instrumental, featuring sliced vocals that are tightened up and loosened down in pitch, surrounding Poté’s central vocal line.
The vocal-led ‘SAVE ME’ (live footage HERE), a collaboration with Australian hitmakers Bag Raiders that took place in studio in Paris, was released as a single in July. It feels at home among a new wave of leftfield high-energy bass house, as the trio chop up emotive pitched-up vocals, layering them over warm pads, punchy low-ends and skittish high-ends, resulting in a unique peak-time slammer.
‘MIXED FEELINGS’ Tracklist:
1. NOBODY // ME
2. NEVER CHANGE // LET IT GO
3. ADMIRATION // JEALOUSY
4. RELIEVED // GUILTY
5. MAYBE // YES feat. PotéY
6. CONTEMPLATION // DESTRUCTION
7. HOLD ON // MOVE ON
8. RISE // FALL
9. FALL // RISE
10. SAVE ME
11. JOY // SORROW
‘MIXED FEELINGS’ Tour Dates:
27/09 – Baisers Volés – Saint-Malo, FR
16/10 – Paradiso Tolhuistuin – Amsterdam, NL
06/12 – Hotel Cecil – Copenhagen, DK
07/12 – Parkteatret – Oslo, NO
08/12 – Kollektivet Livet – Stockholm, SE
12/12 – XOYO – London, UK
13/12 – La Maroquinerie – Paris, FR
‘MIXED FEELINGS’, out on 25th October, solidifies Boston Bun’s reputation as one of the most exciting producers to come out of France in the last decade. Boasting a new side to his sound with characterful tracks that jump from one influence to the next, as well as building a live show, this very much feels like the embers of an exciting new chapter for Boston Bun.
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