A QUICK CHAT WITH BOLER MANI

Can you tell us what ‘Vacation’ means to you and what you want people to take away from it?
Vacation is an expression of my love for various sounds and moods. It’s an attempt to create five separate worlds that have their own vibrant flavours and keep your palette energised with each stop. It’s a first proper taste of coming into my own style and I hope this project excites people about the potential I have as a producer and vocalist

.Do you have a favourite song on the EP?
This is of course a tough one, and it can change from day to day. But at the moment, it might be a draw between Buggy and Honest. Buggy has such a strong drop from the very start and maintains this high colourful energy throughout, but Honest has such a vibrant, unique beat and one of the most satisfying hooks (if not the most) I’ve ever done.

Who are some of your influences, and why?
I think what you can hear the most, especially in this project is BROCKHAMPTON. They were my first introduction into alternative hip hop when I was a teenager and it just blew the gates open to all these possibilities outside of the usual 808 drums and basic trap structures. JID, Kendrick and Anderson Paak have been hugely influential for how I’ve developed my vocal and writing style because, for me, they set a gold standard for quality in song writing.

What does your creative process look like? From writing through to recording?
I pretty much start with the beat every time and super occasionally I’ll have a lyric come to mind and I build a beat from that idea. I start by trying out a bunch of instrumental ideas, and if I’m lucky a happy accident occurs that propels the session into a potential song. Then I start brainstorming flows by vocalising random non-words till I hit something I like. And when I have a rough flow, I try to write as closely to the way the syllables sound as possible, because the shape of the words from the initial idea is what made it sound so good in the first place. Then I just write to the flow for each section and refine each idea until I’m satisfied (which is sometimes never).

What do you think makes a great song?
I think you have to be really good at listening to yourself to know when you like/don’t like an idea and having the discipline to be honest the whole way through the process. It’s so easy to compromise or rush through each step for the dopamine hit of having something you can play back and I constantly have to remind myself of this every time I create. This can sometimes make it seem like making a song is impossible because you don’t like anything you do but you just have to keep covering ground and you’ll eventually find that nugget of gold. 

If you could collaborate with any artist, who would it be and why?
At the moment, I guess Kendrick Lamar. As he is arguably the best rapper alive at the moment. It would be invaluable to be able to see how he makes decisions when it comes to every part of the process. I feel like thought processes are super contagious when in a room with someone and I’m definitely trying to catch whatever he’s got.

When not working on music, what other creative outlet/s do you have?
I don’t really create outside of music but I used to be really into graphic design and video editing for YouTube channels, for mine or other people’s.

Who are some local artists we should check out?
Definitely listen to Luca Ciro and DEFECT, they’re really good friends of mine I’ve worked with and they make some of the best music in Melbourne right now. Other notable mentions are Kill Carter, YNG Martyr andJay Zayat, they are some of the hardest in the game right now too.

What else do you have planned for 2024?

I’m currently on a vacation as I write this which makes for some poetic timing. I’ve got a few unfinished songs in the bank back home and I’m excited to see how my brain approaches them after the saturation of these experiences. And having finally released my first project, it’s really inspired me to work toward a full length album built on everything I’ve learnt during this process.