Sander van Dijck aka San Holo releases an extensive 20-track LP for his sophomore album bb u ok? via his own imprint, bitbird. As stated by San Holo on an instagram post: “this album is the biggest announcement in San holo history” and is comprised of his “most personal work”.
The album has certainly been one of the most talked about album releases throughout 2021 and features notable artists like Mr. Carmack, Mija, Rivers Cuomo, Chet Porter, American Football, Bipolar Sunshine, and longtime collaborator The Nicholas. Sander teased fans with an early drop of ‘find your way’ with Bipolar Sunshine. This is the second time that San Holo collaborated with him, the first time being on album1, where bipolar sunshine loaned his vocals for ‘brighter days’. You can find Bipolar Sunshine featured twice in bb u ok?, with the second track being ‘new one’.
Longtime EDM artist Chet Porter got emotional on twitter when talking about his experience in creating their song ‘you’ve changed, I’ve changed’ stating that it “gives me chills and makes me emo cause i’m getting flashbacks to when we made it, such good times.” This song has melodic vocals and extremely relatable lyrics that really hit home. You can certainly tell the amount of heart and creativity that was put into this project while listening and the emotions definitely run deep. Chet Porter has been quiet all last year and this collaboration is his first music release of 2021. Since the announcement of this collaboration, social media hasn’t stopped talking about it and it is surely one of the most anticipated collaborations on the LP.
Throughout the album, you experience uplifting lyrics and fluttering bass music that feels inspiring and graceful. San Holo is no stranger to using instruments in his music and you can find many carefully placed guitar chords that really tie into the music well. When listening you can tell how close to his heart every track is, he delved into his head space when creating the album;
“I tend to look at the music I put out as different chapters in my life … I wrote ‘bb u ok?’ during a new chapter of my life … I was learning how to deal with what happens “after love.” I flew to LA and just started writing and writing, trying to express everything I had been feeling for the last few months. The change in scenery definitely helped, going back to LA (like I did for album1) brought back some good memories of that previous chapter.”
This chapter of music really showcases how he coped with losing love and moving on afterwards. Just by examining the track titles, you can tell he really put emotion into each song. With some song titles being ‘i just wanna fucking cry’, ‘lonely in LA,” ‘IT HURTS’, ‘i am thinking of you’, and ‘one more day’. San Holo has really been tuning his sound to show a more indie and softer side of producing and making it so personal makes the music that much more authentic!
The autographed two-disc vinyl has already sold out, but special pressings on clear vinyl, cassette tapes, and CDs are still available and expected to ship on day of release.
