(electronic, psychedelic. indie) Bipolar Sunshine - Drowning Butterflies EP - 2013, MP3, 320 kbps

Bipolar Sunshine is the solo project of Manchester-based Adio Marchant, who you may remember as the vocalist in Kid British. After calling it a day with his bandmates he's now creating his own sound that's upbeat, full of catchy hooks and beautiful interludes that are perfect for walking around in this amazing heatwave.
He's got a lot radio play over the past few months and has just enjoyed playing at Latitude Festival, Lovebox and alongside White Lies at their fifth anniversary shows. There's a lot of buzz around Bipolar Sunshine, especially after he teamed up with Rudimental to create a track in 24 hours. It was part of a creative project called Bacardi Beginnings, where new artists collaborate with established ones to complete the entire A&R process together in one day. Intense right? Well I know I'd be having a panic attack if someone told me I had to make a record in day.
So when I get the chance to speak to Marchant over the phone I ask him all about it: "It was pretty scary … it was more like 4 hours." In retrospect he seems very relaxed saying it was "a lot of fun" and "they're all top guys."
The outcome is a feelgood tune called Distance, which features Bipolar Sunshine on vocals and takes elements from disco, house and funk. Even more exciting news than the track actually getting finished is the fact Marchant says they may collaborate again: "We've said if we can find the time to both get together we may do some more writing, so fingers crossed I may be able to get onto their second album."
Despite gaining more fans since working with Rudimental, who shot to prominence last year with the number one single Feel the Love, Marchant caught my attention about six months ago. It was his beautiful, mellow song Fire that drew me in. It opens a window into his mind. It's reflective and emotional charged. This comes across in his vocal delivery, which ranges from soulful to lethargic spoken word. The track is brought by the soundbites he uses from a couple's heated argument.
This song is on his debut EP, Aesthetics, which includes four tracks: Rivers, Fire, Blossom and a remix of Rivers. They range in tone and content but all offer the same sentimental voice that looks at and analyses personal experiences.
While I'm talking to Marchant he seems very focused on what he wants to achieve with his sound saying that not being in a band allows him to truly "capture [his] emotive side," which he's "not really put forward before".
So was breaking up with Kid British mutual? With no hesitation the answer is "Yes. We all wanted different things and we weren't going to get to where we needed to get to being in Kid British anymore."
So he started writing and collaborating with the producer known as Jazz Purple about a year and a half ago. They then decided to set up a record label to release Bipolar Sunshine's music on and create something different.
"We wanted to move away from what people still perceive as Manchester music. Not that there's anything wrong with it but for us there's just a whole new generation of people who are producing all sorts of creative stuff that needs a new home."
The addictive summer pop tune Rivers kicks off the EP and it's definitely been a consistent earworm for me over the past few months. Although it's energetic the lyrics are all about someone crying, which you don't really think about when singing along to it. The juxtaposition of a happy melody with a sad lyric is exactly why Marchant called himself Bipolar Sunshine.
"I wanted something that would provoke and make you feel something. I want it to have feeling. It can be dark and it can be happy. I wanted to have that scope and that's why I called myself Bipolar Sunshine."
Marchant writes from personal experiences and his debut EP merges a mixture of emotions reflecting on a "bad relationship and my granddad passing away." But like many artists he wants people to "interpret the songs for themselves."
He draws influence from a variety of artists including indie rockers Arctic Monkeys, the man who thinks he's God, Kanye West, hip hop star Kendrick Lamar and Prince. He then talks fondly about listening to the Carpenters and the Smiths when he was younger. I'm then really curious to know who he would want to collaborate with. He immediately picks Morrissey and then says he'd have loved to see Kanye work with Morrissey when he first emerged. "They're both so outrageous that it would probably work." His other dream collaborators range from Adele to Dizzee Rascal, so we're bound to hear an array of sounds from Bipolar Sunshine during his musical career.
I ask about the song writing process expecting to hear Marchant has a very concentrated approach to it. Instead he tells me that ideas typically come to him while he's doing the dishes.
"I'll be washing up and I'll start singing. Then I have to put my phone on the side and record everything I'm saying. Then I listen through it and think that's pretty nice. It works because you're in a completely relaxing zone not thinking about it so then it comes out freely."
Although this is when a lot of his lyrics come out he won't be offering to "come round to anyone's house to wash up."
Aside from his own work, Marchant wants to work on developing his label so they can eventually sign artists that are producing music that's similar in tone and sound to Bipolar Sunshine's and "help shape and show them there's a place for this sort of music if that's what they want to make."
For Bipolar Sunshine the next few months will all be about working away in the studio. We can expect to hear a new EP in the next couple of months and an album next year. Before his debut LP he'll be playing at Manchester's Warehouse Project on 9 November. After that I reckon he'll be hitting the road on tour and he said he's not really fazed by big performances, especially after playing at Latitude, so expect him at big festivals again next summer. For him the whole thing is "more relaxing" than not being on stage because he can be in "his own world". © http://www.theguardian.com/

Former Kid British vocalist Adio Marchant has blossomed since shaking off the indie-ska shackles of his former band, and this second EP is further proof. As Bipolar Sunshine, Marchant writes kitchen-sink dramas of the shimmering synth-pop variety, and he seems to relish that he can be a great deal more creative in his new guise. ‘Drowning Butterflies’ is infused with a dash of reggae, Ladysmith Black Mambazo vocal harmonies add warmth to ‘Love More Worry Less’ and hazy swirls of ethereal electronica make ‘Trouble’ one of his best songs yet. But what holds everything together is Marchant’s ability to tell a vivid tale that swings from introspective lows to optimistic highs.
© NME