Sander van Dijck, best known by his famed moniker, San Holo, is noted for bridging the gap between electronic and indie music. Moreover, his sound is distinct in the feeling it omits: something that can’t quite be explained yet is easily identifiable as van Dijck’s music. Today, June 4, the famed producer showcases his signature sound on bb u ok?

From euphoric soundscapes to guitar melodies, van Dijck’s vocals, hopeful messages, organic sounds with imperfections, distorted beats and analog tape machines, the LP proves itself as another masterful production by the multifaceted creative. In addition, bb u ok? boasts collaborations with acclaimed artists, including Rivers Cuomo of Weezer, Mija, Mr. Carmack, American Football, Bipolar Sunshine and Chet Porter.

bb u ok? follows van Dijck’s debut LP, album1, with each offering a different take on love. “My first album,” van Dijck says, “was me being in love, and the second album definitely has an after love vibe. Not to say a bad vibe, but more like an ‘Okay, what happens after that relationship and how do you deal with it, how do you move on?’ The bittersweetness of that, the beautiful memories yet the sad fact that it didn’t work out, for example.” 

The meaning behind the LP title, the multi-instrumentalist says, serves as a reminder to ask others how they’re feeling, with van Dijck adding that the name is based on a text message he once received. The album title, however, has a deeper layer in its meaning: “I feel like with social media and telephones these days, everyone is so connected, yet I feel like we’re so disconnected in a way,” he says. “Do we really know each other? Do we really know what we’re going through or is everything a façade?” This idea is further exemplified in the Twitter trend the artist created of adding a percentage next to one’s handle to simply show others how well they’re doing, which van Dijck says is helpful as people, like himself, don't always know how to communicate how they're feeling.

Living in an Airbnb in Echo Park, Los Angeles proves to be a source of inspiration for the producer, as both bb u ok? and album1 was written in the famous neighborhood. There, sharing life experiences, emotions and memories with the friends he lived with for two months allowed van Dijck “to translate [those discussions] into something tangible for people or relatable.” “When I’m writing albums, it’s all about my world in my head,” he says, “and obviously the emotions and the feelings that I feel inside of me because of interactions with people, experiences or conversations.”

While music is a way for van Dijck to translate these sensations, he also aims for listeners to connect their own experiences in his music. “I think it’s important for me to communicate that whatever meaning I might give to a song, a project or an album, that in the end I want people to write their own story in their head,” van Dijck adds. “I want people to have their own association with it, because I think that’s the beauty of music.”