Phole

From the basement of a former biological research centre near Groningen, The Netherlands, Phole (Rik van den Heuvel) produces an intensely atmospheric and organic-sounding brand of electronic music. As DATmag once aptly put it: “Phole’s productions are worlds in themselves, worlds in which you could completely lose yourself. So many layers, so many beautiful warm sounds. This is dancing in the rain on a sultry summer evening.” 


In 2013, Phole released his debut album <a href="spotify:album:397q9ISpMUMLGRDNAPTRe5" data-name="Oppositeland">Oppositeland</a> on San Francisco-based label Three Sixty Records. His tracks were streamed 100,000 times in no-time and were featured in videos of National Geographic. In the meantime, the producer, composer and multi-instrumentalist pursued a degree at the conservatoire and produced entire albums full of songs. In this way, a new level of personal perfectionism was achieved, but it also caused a certain anxiety to bring out anything ever again. It is therefore not surprising Phole once got jokingly announced as “that guy we had to drag out of a basement.” 


After being graduated in 2018, Phole’s “return” got marked by a support show for <a href="spotify:artist:46Ce0QmI1mE2bl5VQ4P9N8" data-name="Lapalux">Lapalux</a> (Ninja Tune), followed by the release of his <a href="spotify:album:2fbakA69PdTlgVu5dcr5XO" data-name="Rain On Canvas">Rain On Canvas</a> EP, featuring Robin Yzerman. Meanwhile, van den Heuvel has definitively found his way to the outside world, highlighted by a live project, Phole (live), and an upcoming second album of which the first single ‘The Waiting Game’ is released April 10th, 2020.