German electronic act
BUNT. deliver party-friendly dance jams that honor the spirit of the late
Avicii and channel the early material of funky forebears
Justice,
Basement Jaxx, and
Calvin Harris. Debuting in the mid-2010s, the duo expanded their
Avicii-esque folk-house sound by incorporating horns, banjos, and fiddles, and drawing from soul, pop, and Latin music.
BUNT.'s most well-known songs include "Unbreakable" (featuring
Clarence Coffee, Jr.) and "Crocodile Tears" (with
Jens Hult).
Hailing from Stuttgart,
BUNT. was formed by Levi Wijk and Nico Crispin, high school friends who teamed up at the age of 16 to craft dance anthems inspired by
Swedish House Mafia. Taking
SHM's propulsive festival house approach and enriching it with folksy elements like banjos and harmonicas, they adopted a style strikingly similar to
Avicii's on early tracks such as 2014's "Journey" and "Harmonica."
BUNT.'s subsequent 2016 output "Old Guitar" and "Coming Home" sounded like
Of Monsters and Men or
Mumford & Sons spun with an EDM twist, while "Young Hearts" was infused with saxophone. By 2018, Celtic music tones found their way into "On My Way" and "Little Secrets."
With nearly a dozen tracks building a wide audience by the end of the decade, the pair signed with Geffen and made their label debut with 2019's "Oh My Other." Teaming with Seattle R&B band
the Dip, they followed with the earthy "Sure Don't Miss You." Borrowing
Buena Vista Social Club's
Omara Portuondo's "Tiene Sabor," they added Latin flair to their repertoire with that summer's "Cuba (Tiene Sabor)." Moving to Interscope,
BUNT. released several singles in 2020, including the
Avicii tribute "Crocodile Tears" (featuring
Jens Hult), "Unbreakable" (featuring
Clarence Coffee, Jr.), and "Nights Like That" (with
Georgia Ku). In 2021,
BUNT. released "Out of Time" (with Diviners and Tom Bailey) and "Hurricane" (featuring
Hon &
SMBDY). Crispin announced his departure from
BUNT. in May of that year, and Wijk continued using the name as a solo artist. ~ Neil Z. Yeung