Q&A: Bunny Michael Looks for the Good in Everyone on New EP ‘Angels Everywhere’
BUNNY MICHAEL UNDERSTANDS — how pervasive negativity can feel in the world. They know violence and injustice feel prevalent, and that social media can act as a constant reminder. Throughout all of their art however, Michael dares to reach through the chaos and choose hope. They reject the ideas of pessimistic conformity and confinement in favor of complete, optimistic self-expression. This can be heard in every second of Michael’s new experimental rap EP, Angels Everywhere.
A multidisciplinary artist, Michael has found success as a writer, podcaster, and Instagram personality while working on their new EP. Having been a musician for nearly a decade, the audience has grown with Michael, allowing them to re-release songs on this EP in a new context for new listeners, while also releasing new music for those that have been with them throughout the journey.
“Every soul reflects a prism/what you see’s perspectivism,” Michael raps in the verse to the titular track, “Angels Everywhere.” The song, a cry for understanding rather than division, is just one of the instances in which Michael brings together heavy themes and up-tempo beats. The quick pace of the songs combined with the powerful, provocative lyrics creates a listening experience sure to draw in listeners and make them think deeper about the world after the final beat drops.
Juxtaposing industrial beats with angelic album art shot in natural settings, Michael further explores the complexities found in the world. Also covering post-apocalyptic ideas, the visuals, music video, and the songs come together to create an art piece investigating what it means to be human at this point in time.
Luna got the chance to sit down with Bunny Michael and talk about their new EP. Read the interview below.
LUNA: First I just wanted to say, congratulations on the EP! How are you feeling in the run-up to its release?
MICHAEL: I feel excited! I also just want to make sure I'm enjoying the process and the moment rather than thinking about it in terms of reaching a certain goal. When I decided to put this EP out, because I hadn't done music in a long time, I thought, “The only way I'm going to do this is if I'm going to let myself really have fun and enjoy the process” and just soak it in like that.
LUNA: I know you said it’s been a while, and I saw that you first released “Oracle” as a single in 2020 — was there always a plan for an EP? How long have you been putting this project together?
MICHAEL: Yeah, actually, these songs I made before the pandemic — but then the pandemic happened. Obviously, it was a traumatic event for everybody, so it just didn't feel right to put music out. Honestly, I wasn't sure if I should put it out anymore because I was focusing a lot on my writing. But now that we're out of the bubble, I went back to the messages of the songs and what I was trying to say then and really thought about what they mean to me now. [After] connecting to that heart, soul space, of the music, I thought, “Yeah, this is something I want to put out into the world and something I really want to say.”
LUNA: Finding that new meaning in the songs seems very personal, and that definitely comes across. I know Smokey Chocolate is featured on “Crystal Children” — do you have any collaborators in this process, or is it all very solitary and personal?
MICHAEL: Yeah, actually, Bruno Coviello produced “Crystal Children” and we've been working together on music for a really long time; we've known each other for, like, 20 years. Also my great friend Michael Bihari, we co-produced the other tracks on the EP. He's also a best friend. So it was really a very family-oriented thing, and that's kind of generally how I tend to work on stuff. The people I collaborate with are also my really close friends so the whole process is still so personal, even though I'm working with other people.
LUNA: You can definitely hear that on the EP! Okay, shifting away from production to the songs themselves, you said the title track, “Angels Everywhere,” is about “a refusal to see humanity as lost.” Do you have anything you would say to people who connect to that song’s message or are feeling like humanity is lost right now?
MICHAEL: I think it's very easy to be cynical and pessimistic. There's so much suffering in the world, and most of the media and what you hear about are the horrible things that are happening because that’s what sells. So as somebody who really cares about people and about the suffering in the world, I connect with so many people out there that feel the same way. But it's almost like they're afraid to be hopeful or to see the good because they feel worried that they're just gonna end up being hurt in the end.
The message of the whole record, “Angels Everywhere” in particular, is that even in the face of darkness and suffering, love and this belief in each other is the only way to free yourself. Love is really the only way to have any kind of freedom from that [cynicism] because it's the only thing that really matters. And even if there are obstacles in your way or people who are on a different path or who seek a sense of self worth through domination and power and hurting other people, your strength in the face of that is knowing your self-worth. And also knowing that we were all created hopeful and worthy. So it's about holding on to that consciousness and believing in the love that exists in everybody, even when they can't necessarily be in touch with it themselves.
LUNA: I love the theme of connection, and you can really see that in the natural visuals for the album. But they’re juxtaposed by more of an industrial-style beat — was that something you were going for?
MICHAEL: That's kind of how I am — I'm really both things. I'm into nature and things that signify peace, but I'm also interested in chaos and darkness because that stuff is part of our lives. So I'm not interested in denying these other realities or these other realms of existence by just painting a pretty picture. [The visuals] are supposed to be apocalyptic with both a sense of destruction and what is birthed from those feelings. I also worked with one of my good friends, Bobbi Menuez, on the creative direction of the album art. So the butterfly wings and all of that stuff was a collaborative idea, loosely based on Henry Darger’s art. It's this sense of innocence and purity within the chaos.
LUNA: The end of the world vibes definitely come across in the music video and visuals. You have so much different art across so many different platforms, and it is all connecting to so many people. What do you hope these new listeners will get from the album?
MICHAEL: I hope they feel seen in some to some capacity and relate to the message because I'm trying to talk about a certain kind of angst and recognize a certain kind of feeling, which is also what I do with words. I also want people to feel inspired to express their weird selves. With writing it's easier to limit your exposure to a certain degree, but whenever I do music it's very much me. So I had to really choose to be brave about it, and I'm hoping that it helps other people feel like they can be brave about whatever it is that their heart is being called to do.
LUNA: Okay, final question. You are doing so much work right now: the music, the podcast, the Instagram page, and you have a book out next year. Do you see more music in the future, or are you taking a break after this?
MICHAEL: Yeah, I'm really excited because I thought maybe I was gonna not do music anymore, but just doing all of this, and … I’m performing at the end of the month — which I'm really nervous about because I haven't performed in a long time — I think that's just gonna make me want to keep going. So yeah, I'm definitely gonna keep doing it.
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