Animistic Beliefs Bring Their Post-Colonial Club Sound to Bangkok and Singapore This Week
The Rotterdam duo behind the NAAFI album MERDEKA play Bangkok's HORN on November 6 and Singapore's MDLR on November 7, two stops on a 13-city Asia-Pacific run.
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Linh Luu and Marvin Lalihatu named their 2022 album MERDEKA. This week the Rotterdam duo, performing as Animistic Beliefs, bring that sound through the region it draws from: two stops, Bangkok and Singapore, on a 13-city run that also hits Hanoi, Taipei and Phnom Penh.
Dates: November 6 (Bangkok), November 7 (Singapore) Venues: HORN, Bangkok; MDLR, Singapore Tickets: THB750 at the door (Bangkok); SGD40 (Singapore)
A Sound Built From Two Diasporas
Animistic Beliefs is Linh Luu, who is Vietnamese-Chinese, and Marvin Lalihatu, who is Dutch-Moluccan. Both live in the Netherlands and started going to Rotterdam's clubs as underage attendees, bonded early on by a shared passion for analogue equipment. What they eventually built folds the totobuang, gamelan-like gongs, and the tahuri, a conch-shell wind instrument, into the mix.
Their 2022 album MERDEKA, released on the Mexico City label NAAFI, went on to win the 3voor12 Award for Best Dutch Album. A reworked version, RE:MERDEKA, followed in 2025 with contributions from other artists. The duo built the original record as a deliberate break from what they call colonial Western dance music.
Bangkok and Singapore, Back to Back
In Bangkok, Animistic Beliefs headline promoter Mae Happyair's NON NON NON night at HORN, on the fourth floor of a building off Silom 4 Alley, alongside Issypeople, JUIINT and Sriracha Czaddy. Doors run 10pm to 3am, with tickets at THB750 at the door, including a drink.
The next night in Singapore, collectives Bussy Temple and Strange Weather co-host KINNARI 001: BUSSY WEATHER at MDLR on Cecil Street, running 10pm to 6am. Bussy Temple has built its name on carving out safe spaces for trans, nonbinary and femme ravers on the city's underground circuit, which makes it a fitting room for a project built entirely around queerness and heritage colliding on a dancefloor. Tickets are SGD40, with Aalely, charmicide, howrøng, nydthakid, Rose and Zach rounding out the bill.
The Rest of the Route
The tour opened in Ho Chi Minh City on October 31 and keeps moving through January: Hanoi, Taipei and Phnom Penh, then Sydney on December 4, Melbourne the following night, a four-city run through China, and a close in Shenzhen on January 2.
"There's something very immediate about being in a club with people that we missed..." the duo said in a press statement announcing the run. "We've spent the last few years building worlds through theatre and performance, and now we want to bring that energy back into music and onto dancefloors. We want to make music, travel with it and be in motion again."
Bangkok's doors open at 10pm on November 6.
Cover photo: Animistic Beliefs, via Instagram.
