BUNT.

German electronic artist BUNT. delivers 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. Originating as the duo of Levi Wijk and Nico Crispin, BUNT. debuted in the mid-2010s, expanding their folk-house sound by incorporating horns, banjos, and fiddles, and drawing from soul, pop, and Latin music. Popular songs like “Unbreakable” (featuring Clarence Coffee, Jr.) and “Crocodile Tears” (with Jens Hult) helped establish them internationally, and after Crispin’s departure in 2021, Wijk vaulted BUNT. to even greater success, signing to Arista Records and releasing the 2023 hit “Clouds,” featuring Nate Traveller, and the Renaissance EP. In 2024, he paired with Mapei for “Trippin’” and released the album Levi Don’t Do It. 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 and SMBDY). Crispin announced his departure from BUNT. in May of that year, and Wijk continued using the name as a solo artist. He continued releasing singles throughout 2022, including “Say You’re with Me” with Frida Amundsen, but it was 2023′s “Clouds” that became a major streaming hit. His first single for Arista, it reached the Top 15 on Billboard’s Hot Dance/Electronic Songs chart and was followed by “Lost My Mind (Wake Up)” with Elley Duhé. Both were included on BUNT.‘s Renaissance EP later that year. In 2024, he delivered both the album, Levi Don’t Do It, and the non-album single, “Trippin’,” the latter of which featured Mapei. ~ Neil Z. Yeung