An earnest young man saunters down a neon-lit city street, and though there are distractions around him, his sights are locked on an ethereal, free-spirited beauty, whose gaze seems to have a gravitational pull of its own.
It’s a scene out of the music video for Thai singer-songwriter Phum Viphurit’s 2018 single “Lover Boy,” which has more than 46.5 million views on YouTube. One could just as easily imagine it as a scene in a romantic comedy — one for which Viphurit, a master of dreamy, sun-kissed indie rock, would be a perfect score-writer.
The 23-year-old Bangkok-based artist brought his cinematic love songs to Washington’s U Street Music Hall on Monday night, the last show on his North American tour. With his breathy, sweet vocals and swirling guitar lines, Viphurit’s sounds are the stuff of fantasy. And yet onstage, he and his band made them feel like they belong in reality, too, infusing them with a bright, burning energy.
Advertisement
Viphurit moved from Thailand to New Zealand when he was around 9, returning to Thailand later for film school. Through his original songs and covers on YouTube, the Wes Anderson aficionado eventually caught the eye of Bangkok-based indie label Rats Records.
His 2017 debut, “Manchild,” with its heartfelt guitar-led melodies and precious lyrics, showcased a quickly maturing writer who still had a taste for the aesthetics of youth, from the sugary longing of “Strangers in a Dream” to the sparkling disquiet of “Long Gone.” His latest EP, “Bangkok Balter Club,” sounds a bit more layered and grown-up. His voice has improved, and his reflections have more space to breathe.
On Monday, when the time came for Viphurit and his band to take the stage, they jammed out first, with Viphurit showing off his guitar skills: His fingers glided from a funk-inspired melody to an alluring pop riff.
Advertisement
When he began to sing, his voice recalled the velvety timbre of Young the Giant’s Sameer Gadhia. But rather than keeping his lyrics submerged in melancholy, Viphurit managed to infuse them with a soothing kind of joy — even on rather somber songs like “Pluto,” which he said was about friends parting ways after college. In “Hello, Anxiety,” he offered shimmering, danceable rhythms as he mulled, “What if the world won’t bend my way? / What will it take to be happy?”
Finally, on “Lover Boy,” Viphurit began with one version, slowing it down for maximum romance before turning it up for a moment of dance-y catharsis. It was a reminder that though love can bring deep valleys, it can also get you to sunny peaks.
ncG1vNJzZmivp6x7uK3SoaCnn6Sku7G70q1lnKedZLmqssSsq7KklWTAsLrGsKmirJWnerG01KZkr6GgncKztdNmmauhnpzAbrTIrGSrp51isLC5jKKlnaGVYr%2Bwr8pmq6hlpJ2ybr%2FTmp6eZ2Jlfnp7kGlmaWlfbn2ksZdpaZxllWmCo3mQapxyZZJlrnd5kp1nbG9iZq95gcSflqysn6fGb7TTpqM%3D