Bo Sedkid, the producer alias of visual artist and filmmaker Muvindu Binoy, is a versatile musician, known as a beatmaker and more recently as a singer-songwriter and rapper.

He has produced music for the likes of Q, 6ZN and Minol. His musicality is quite evident across the broad range of his output. His beats are distinct for their use of foley sound effects and sampling of Sri Lankan music.

His “Full Moon Poya Day” EP was our pick for the best album from Sri Lanka in 2020, in which he pulled together the sporadic remixes released over that year, where he revisited Sinhalese popular music from the past decade and recontextualized them into an alternative and contemporary sound.

While his recent directional shift into singer-songwriter/rapper territory might come as a surprise, it’s actually the result of him revisiting his earliest musical ventures. Though it was only in intimate spaces with friends over drinks that Bo would pull out a guitar and play these songs. I have been lucky to have experienced this. Now, you can too.

In the music videos for the songs “Yaalu” and “Manokamaya”, we see well-known Sri Lankan actors captured in isolation, during lockdown, smoking cigarettes as Bo emotes through his words and melodies.

“Yaalu”, a Sinhala word meaning “friend”, is about missing friends and reflecting on good times. It particularly hits home in this time of isolation. The music video evokes the quiet moments of enjoying a smoke in intimate company.

The last line translates to “Kanthaka, we are close to making it. I love you, buddy. I promise.” According to Buddhist legend, Kanthaka was the favoured white horse of Prince Siddhartha, who would become the Buddha. Upon the departure of Siddhartha, Kanthaka died of a broken heart.

The music video to the song “Kavvandha”, a Sinhala word for torso or corpse, is inspired by the Robert Eggers film “The VVitch”. His lyrical delivery has the quality of chanting, like a cross between some occult incantation and horrorcore.

It explores aspects of Sri Lankan culture, politics, and a supposed degradation in contemporary lifestyles. Here, Bo riffs on the folklore character “Mahadana Muththa”, an elderly man who offered his wisdom to villagers, though his wisdom was pure ludicrous nonsense.

So, what’s next? Bo says he has enough material to release a full length album. Personally, I cannot wait.

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Bo Sedkid on Soundcloud, YouTube, Instagram, Facebook.