Phum Viphurit turns into a sloth, enters the surreal world of Paul Vibhavadi on 'The Other Side' — watch

A lot has changed since we caught up with Phum Viphurit last year. But never in a million years could we have imagined that one of favourite Thai singer-songwriters would be morphing into a loveable anthropomorphic sloth.

Known as Paul Vibhavadi (who you might recognize from the cover artwork of The Greng Jai Piece), this cuddly creature is the main character of Phum's newest single, 'The Other Side'.

 

 

 

 

 

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“He’s basically a hybrid of sloth and human who tries his best to fit into city life and the pacing of it. But he’s a sloth, he’s not meant to be in the city,” says Phum.

'The Other Side' chronicles Paul’s quest to find somewhere he truly belongs. “He finds a mythical map to Himmapan, this magical forest in Buddhist culture that is neither heaven nor hell. It’s a peaceful limbo where time doesn’t move and he can just exist in peace and solitude, and that’s all a sloth wants,” Phum explains.

“He decides to leave everything behind and follows the directions, but before he makes it to the forest gateway, he stumbles across a tribe that worships sloths and they think he’s the Lisan al Gaib. He’s not, but he fakes it because he loves the attention even though he knows it’s wrong and he’s not the one they’re looking for. So ‘The Other Side’ is an introduction to the world of Paul Vibhavadi and the lyrics speak about the rules of the tribe and how a sloth should be.”

Besides the Dune-esque narrative, this new single also features a different sonic direction from his usual indie folk and neo-soul repertoire. “For the longest time I’ve been into an early 2000s house and I always knew that I wanted to incorporate my guitar playing into that type of BPM,” Phum shares.

'The Other Side' is the first single from this singer's upcoming EP PAUL VIBHAVADI VOL. 1, which is set for release
on 17. “I think it’s the perfect introduction that brings the audience gently into this weird and wacky world. And it also introduces the new sonic elements, the house music element of it all,” Phum explains. “It feels like Act 1 of a movie I’m making, to look at it from a creative perspective.”