The musical vision of Manchester-born Adio Marchant (aka. Bipolar Sunshine) has spawned a sound that is not just genre-defying but uniting, with the euphoric highs of pop, emotional resonance of hip hop and uplifting spirit of a gospel choir. His voice is soulful, his lyrics are vibrant and his candour breathes meaning into every verse. Drawing inspiration from life’s wonders and imperfections, his songs conjure up romantic ideas of escapism and self expression.
We were lucky enough to grab a couple of minutes with the wonderful Adio Marchant of Bipolar Sunshine to chat about his newly-formed record label, his debut album and his fans. All the questions are inspired by or relating to one of Bipolar Sunshine’s song titles or releases.
Fire – To me, your songs are very inspirational and positive. They ignite a passion for the world around us. Who or what inspires you?
“I’m inspired by again the world around us. Life. Situations that always arise that makes you always think like that, so that’s my inspiration. My mum’s a massive inspiration and just the comfort of trying to be around good people.”
Daydreamer – We dream, we imagine, we picture what might be. If you could talk to your 16-year-old self and tell him what is happening in your life right now, would he be surprised?
“Yeah. A 16-year-old me would be very surprised about what I’m doing, just as the consciousness of what I’m about.”
Trouble – What gets you into the most trouble?
“Well it used to be, before I had a girlfriend, just girls. That’s what ‘Trouble’ was about. ‘Trouble’ was just about two people knowing that they’re not right for each other but you still go there.”
Love more, Worry less – Love and worry are two strong emotions. Music helps us deal with our feelings and emotions. It’s an outlet. Has music helped you overcome your struggles?
“In every scenario. When my Grandad died, music was the thing. It’s the thing that joins the gap between everything, there’s never not an emotion where you don’t want wanna hear music. So I feel if I can make something that people can use at their most monumental moments then I’ve done what I wanted to do.”
Future – 2015 promises to be the year you release your debut album. How’s it coming along?
“The debut album’s coming along nicely, after this tour we’re gonna get stuck back into it and get it finished, get it out as soon as possible. Maybe after the summer. Yeah just been looking forward to it, it’s such a nice piece for everyone to have and to move on.”
Aesthetics – Fashion seems very important to you. You’re always wearing something unique, what has been your favourite look or piece of clothing that you’ve worn?
“I say that with the fashion it’s more of like the fashion of being comfortable in your own skin but with what I wear it’s just how I feel. I’ve got a nice long red Kenzo jacket, that I like but there’s a few other bits that I like.”
You’ve just started a record label – Aesthetic Sounds, tell us more about that…
“Yes. Aesthetic Sounds is made up of myself, Jazz Purple, Gaika, August + Us, Murkage and there’s about 4 or 5 others that are gonna be getting involved as well. It’s just a new label, new ideas, a new way about going about doing things with new personnel. New people who have new entrepreneurial mindsets to do something great, so it’s just different for Manchester. It’s gonna be a platform for people to release music from and people will be seeing a lot more from it.”
Where did the love go? – What do you love most about making music?
“The feeling that it gives other people, it gives me the right energy to make music or to be my own vibe when I see people enjoying themselves or they tell me that or they use this song to get through a certain emotion. That’s a, that’s a lot.”
Rivers – When you’re in the zone and inspiration has struck you, roughly how long do you tend to work on an idea – a song lyric or a melody – till it becomes the finished product?
“It depends because some songs like ‘Fire’ were done really quickly and easy, I recorded that just once. I just went and turned the mic on and recorded it.”
It’s always been my favourite.
“That’s my favourite song because it just came out so naturally, but then there will be some songs like ‘Rivers’ which would’ve taken a week, two weeks. Just mainly we start it, go back to it and then we finish it, so sometimes it just depends. Sometimes an idea can flow out really easy and sometimes it takes a bit of time.”
Blossom – You’ve said that this tour has been your favourite to date. Now tonight’s the last show, but what memories will you be taking away with you?
“The look on people’s faces when we play the music and that so many people have come out to watch us and I don’t have an album out but people are still willing to come out to watch us and I’m fully appreciative of that moment where people stick their money in their own pockets to come to see you. And I think as an artist, as anyone in general you should just appreciate people who show love to you.”
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