Vinyl Williams’ Brunei expresses an otherworldly vision of the land of the same name. As a child, Lionel Williams (a.k.a. Vinyl Williams) was fascinated by the appearance of the Brunei dollar. The translucent, rainbow, and prismatic piece of currency looks the way Lionel’s music sounds. This piece of polymer sparked a curiosity in Lionel, which inspired the development of a mysterious civilization centered around pure harmony. Years later, with this record, Lionel explores the idea alongside a new knowledge of Brunei, “The Abode Of Peace.” This album uses lush, Islam-influenced pop music to spread harmonious qualities with the world, to ultimately benefit the human psyche & physiology.

“This album is an impression of Brunei at an immaculate state of being,” Lionel says. Despite its quality of life being ranked highly among Islamic nations, horrific laws exist to severely punish non-heteronormative behavior. “For a place that masquerades as ‘heaven on Earth,’ we must expose such ugly hegemony, through the latent reflection of their most ultimate civilized potential.” Lyrically, the album is written mainly from the perspective of an incorporeal being from Xol, the gravity cluster orbiting the star Alnilam (the center of the Orion constellation), which represents purely harmonious patterns.