Stephan Bodzin’s Boavista Light

“In general I had a good time throughout the whole pandemic, knowing and being aware that my privileged situation has been helping a lot though,” he says. “I’ve spent some time abroad with my family, which was good and long overdue. My kid knows my name now – hahaha – and I had time to reflect on life and music which resulted in my last album Boavista. We were in Bahia / Brazil early 2021 for a few months, and I did most of the work for the album back there by the water, under the stars, in the sun.”

Bodzin says he’s not really sure if and how has sound has changed.

“In general I’m the same musician, being touched by the same kind of harmonics and just trying to bring it in a shape which suits my ears and these day also my live set,” he says. “It’s melodic, it’s electric, it has to tell a story somehow.”

The artist recently moved to Portugal, but he keeps his finger on the global techno pulse.

“I like the way melodic techno is making its way to the top of genres these days and I’m kind of proud being one those who helped raise it a decade or two ago,” he says. “But this happens globally, not only in Germany. To be honest, I’m not even aware of the topics which define this ‘German’ techno today. In a world which is getting smaller and smaller through faster and faster networks, I think there’s no longer this local movement anymore which took place through local scenes / clubs back in the days in cities like Detroit, Berlin, Frankfurt, London. You create something fresh in Australia and it becomes the hot shit next day in Spain… and that’s only the beginning.”

Bodzin’s latest album is Boavista.

“There’s pretty much no concept behind it,” he says. “Boavista itself stands for good views and does represent a general perspective on (my) life. The light on the horizon, the clear view on and awareness of finiteness of our being here and the resulting focus on what’s important (for each one). The rest is just compiling the music that I like, the music I want to perform, the music i want to share. It’s my present statement as an artist and somehow already my past, as I’m working on new material already.”

Looking ahead to the new year, Bodzin hopes he’s able to play shows.

“I have some massive events scheduled and a lot got canceled already,” he says. “As I said, I hope I can be out there performing a lot. New gear is coming in these days, I’m kind of doubling up my live-setup with two super powerful pieces of analogue outboard. Remixes are coming in for the Boavista remix album which is scheduled for end of February. Around 25 mixes will see the light by then, plus 17 synthapellas of the original tracks. Plus…producers listen up…the complete Boavista album deconstructed as sample package will go in stores 1st week of February. I might also open a pizza-place in Lisbon in 2022, hehehe.”

Stephan Bodzin’s Boavista Light: The Boavista album is out now.