Some songs change your life. Usually without warning. For COLORFUL. It all started on a crowded train. At a table for four somewhere between Hamburg and Stuttgart, surrounded by strangers, movement and noise, he opened his laptop to use the travel time and an idea took shape.
The song was titled “Clouds.” Released in 2023, with a sample from singer Nate Traveler, the track achieved gold status in the USA and Germany. The success came at a crucial time. “The song was created in the most difficult phase of my career,” says BUNT. “It was the year when nothing worked. I seriously thought about quitting.”
Today “Clouds” is experiencing a new form. In the historical setting of Berlin’s Babylon cinema, surrounded by Sonos speakers and the Babylon Orchestra Berlin, the song is reinterpreted as a communal, spatially experienced sound event. Founded in 1926, the orchestra, known for its versatility between classical repertoire, film music and contemporary projects, approaches BUNT.’s music with a fine sense of atmosphere and detail. Like a Sonos system, the orchestra also shows how individual voices work together and create a living whole.
The session is BUNT.’s contribution to the second episode of Sound Conductorsthe joint series from Rolling Stone and Sonos about the orchestral reinterpretation of songs. “When I heard the song played by an orchestra for the first time today, I was speechless,” says BUNT. “It was a completely new experience.”
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Arranged by Hauke Renken, conducted by Raphael Haeger in close collaboration with BUNT. and shaped by the artistic direction of Hans Brandner, the piece is not rewritten, but rather carefully expanded – with more space, more depth and a new perspective.
The connection seems natural. An orchestra thrives on precise listening: every voice counts, every nuance influences the whole. The same principle characterizes Sonos. Designed to reveal the subtleties of every note, the system makes even the smallest vibrations tangible – not isolatedrt, but as a closed sound image.
Born Levi Wijk, is COLORFUL. a German DJ and producer whose career has developed with quiet consistency over the years. From the early releases on the Kontor label to the independent debut album “Folktales” to the major label debut “Levi Don’t Do It” on Arista Records, his path followed a consciously chosen, steady line.
What particularly fascinates him about the orchestral implementation is not the contrast, but the nuance. “Electronic music always sounds the same,” he explains. “But if you give a song to an orchestra, it sounds different every time.” Every performance produces small variations – minimal changes shaped by the people playing them. For COLORFUL. It is precisely these details that are crucial.
This idea is also reflected in Sonos’ philosophy. “What I love about Sonos is the feeling of being surrounded by sound,” says BUNT. “It’s real immersion.” The sound doesn’t distract, it encloses – you enter into it instead of experiencing it from a distance.
The Berlin session also follows this principle. BUNT acts with the baton in hand. intuitively in front of the orchestra. “Conducting an orchestra isn’t all that different from leading an audience,” he says. “It was just so much fun.”
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Experiencing how an electronic song finds its way from the laptop on a train ride to the orchestra has the technical dimension of “Clouds” for BUNT. made new to experience. “These are no longer individual tracks,” he says. “These are people who have mastered their instruments for decades and bring the song to life together.” An individual idea becomes a collective interpretation.
Later, listening to his Sonos Era 300 speakers and the Sub 4 surround system, he feels COLORFUL. taken straight back to the origins of “Clouds”. “I hear again where it all began,” he says. In the end, the format is secondary. “Whether electronic or orchestral – if a song is good, it has an impact. And then it moves people.”
From a crowded train to millions of listeners to an orchestra in Berlin, “Clouds” follows the same inner impulse. Only the space in which it takes place has become larger. What remains is the connection to people – across formats, locations and listening situations. With Sonos, music is not just heard, but experienced. Sound that touches. Music that lasts.