“From Healer to Dealer”(DEEWEE105) is Charlotte Adigéry & Bolis Pupul’s second single, following “Googoo Gaga“, dropping right alongside the announcement of their sophomore album, “Mainland Madinina” (DEEWEE108). The album drops on February 5, 2027.
From the press release:
Charlotte Adigéry & Bolis Pupul announce Mainland Madinina (Out via DEEWEE / Because Music), their first collaborative album in almost 5 years, the follow-up to their acclaimed 2022 debut Topical Dancer.
More personal in its focus but no less ambitious, the new album explores grief, parenthood, lineage and colonial history through the duo’s distinctive blend of electronic pop, dance-punk delivered with their signature sharp, irreverent humour.
The album also retains the satirical edge that defined Topical Dancer. If there’s one song that most distinctly recalls the duo that made Topical Dancer, it’s the new single “From Healer to Dealer,” (produced by Stephen & David Dewaele, Adigéry & Pupul) a hilarious and ridiculous dialogue between “Grace” and “Ruben,” two wellness-obsessed maniacs who Adigéry and Pupul use to explore the complex and often confused vernacular of health culture.
Named for their respective places of origin – mainland China & Hong Kong for Pupul (for his grandparents and mother respectively) and Madinina, the Indigenous name for the Caribbean island of Martinique, for Adigéry (for her mother) – the album reflects on family, belonging and the histories we carry. Its title imagines a meeting point between two seemingly distant places, questioning the boundaries between mainland and island, and creating a shared space in which their stories can sit alongside one another.
The record grew out of conversations between the two friends as their lives changed. In the years since Topical Dancer, both have become parents, while Adigéry has also experienced the loss of her father to Alzheimer’s disease. Pupul’s solo album Letter to Yu, inspired by journeys to his late mother’s homeland of Hong Kong, brought his own family history into focus. Together, these experiences led the pair to explore the parallels between their backgrounds, from Pupul’s grandparents’ Chinese restaurant in Aalst to Adigéry’s mother’s cocktail bar, Madinina, in Ghent.
Written in Ghent and Martinique, Mainland Madinina moves between intimate songwriting and the duo’s familiar electronic intensity. The pair returned to the fundamentals of songwriting, working with little more than a guitar to create songs that could not hide behind production. The result is a record that makes space for vulnerability while retaining the energy, wit and unpredictability that have always defined their collaborations.
Soulwax once again assisted as mentors-slash-co-producers on Mainland Madinina, and Adigéry describes their contribution as invaluable. “They’re people who can really inspire us when we get stuck – they invite us to go deeper, to really grasp the intention behind the song,” she says. Adds Pupul: “They’re still the musical chiropractors – they really know where to push when stuck.”
At its heart, Mainland Madinina is about what we inherit, what we choose to carry and how we find a sense of belonging. Where Topical Dancer confronted the absurdities of contemporary life through provocation and humour, the new album turns towards the duo’s own histories, finding connections between personal experience and wider questions of identity, memory and community. It is a record shaped by change and loss, but also by the sustaining power of friendship and the possibility of making something new from the past.
Stills from the ‘Healer To Dealer’ video:
Following the album’s release Adigéry & Pupul are heading on a UK, EU & USA wide tour stopping at 22 cities. Tickets go on sale on the 13th November.
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