Meet the 18-year-old Dubai artist blending sci-fi, soundtracks and storytelling

Khaleej Times

22-05-2025

Hlib Futymskyi stands out. With his shoulder-length copper curls and an unusual musical moniker — Digital Bell (D-Bell), the 18-year-old Dubai-based Ukrainian is not your typical teenager. A self-confessed music nerd, he is an author, lyricist, composer, and producer, currently basking in the success of his recently released book and album, Intersection. The book, a sci-fi fantasy novella, comes alive lyrically through 14 songs in the namesake album. Every aspect of Intersection — from storytelling, composition, song writing to mixing, mastering, and even the album cover — has been conceptualised and created by D-Bell in his home studio in JLT. The project that was two years in the making was released at Dubai Audio in Dubai Hills Mall.
'The idea for Intersection first came to me when I was around 16,' says D-Bell, 'I wanted to create a world where music and stories were not separate, but completely connected. The book and the album grew parallelly. I called it Intersection because everything in the story fits like one large puzzle.'
The narrative is set in a crumbling futuristic mega city, where bright artificial spheres have replaced the moon, a world where the inhabitants have everything but freedom, happiness, and music. When the protagonist, who lives on the 719th floor, finds an old jukebox, its musical notes rejuvenate the city. The plot turns in each chapter are played out through a range of emotions and genres in the soundtrack.
Themes of loneliness, identity, and quest for happiness are central to the story. The book explores how these issues manifest in a hyperconnected, yet emotionally disconnected society.
By blending music and literature, Intersection steers audiences through an immersive experience, with songs shifting musical genres — from jazz and opera to folk, electronic and rock. 'Each story corresponds to a specific song, making the music an extension of the book. Much like a movie soundtrack, the reader can relive the narrative through a medley of sounds,' reveals D-Bell.
In the storyline, when the Floating Park, the last place where artists and musicians gathered, was destroyed, it swept all creativity from the city. To capture the event, D-Bell wrote and composed the song Skies are Blue, an opera piece featuring Spanish singer Isabel Canada Luna and opera singer Sophia, performed with a live orchestra and recorded at the Firdaus Studio in Dubai. 'The song fuses electronic and classical music with a full orchestra, in which fading piano notes and distorted echoes represent the emotions of memories breaking apart,' he says. In the book, when the city rediscovers music, the narrative is played out through Delusion, a 1980s synth-pop number created by D-Bell in collaboration with Ukrainian vocalist Verona. In Silence, the audiophile included Ukrainian folk music and in Surface, he experimented with drum and bass.
D-Bell and his family moved from Kiev, Ukraine, to Dubai eight years ago. Last year, he graduated from the Nibras International School and, since then, has been focusing on his album while searching for study options that would let him merge his interests in storytelling, music and technology.
He reminisces about a childhood surrounded by music and dance. 'For as long as I can recollect, there was always music at home. I loved listening to the soulful voice of Whitney Houston, the timeless jazz of Miles Davis and Louis Armstrong, iconic songs by Queen and powerful dance performances of Michael Jackson.' It helped that his family, especially his mother, Maryna, a watercolour artist, encouraged his creativity and self-expression.
D-Bell's artistic journey began with a fascination for dance. It was while perfecting his moves for one of his performances that he felt a sudden urge to compose its music as well. This led to him teaching himself to play the guitar, the ukulele, and the synthesiser. By 12, he had embraced the nickname D-Bell, an ode to his love for sounds and songs. 'I started my journey with dance, focusing on freestyle. But over time, music became my primary focus,' he explains.
When he is deeply inspired, it is music that D-Bell turns to, to convey his feelings. 'Every moment, every place carries a unique emotional texture. Seeing how people interact, love, struggle, and grow often brings up emotions in me that flow naturally into melodies and lyrics. Some moments are so powerful that they demand to be translated into music.' In Intersection too, its music and art that fix the broken world.
Besides music, D-Bell is passionate about philosophy, science, and how technology connects with human emotions. 'To me, philosophy asks the 'why', science answers the 'how', and technology helps us in implementing both. I also derive heavily from philosophies that suggest that everything is interconnected through a universal consciousness. Intersection is an exploration of the merging of these fields shaping human experience and creativity.' In spite of being a fan of new age tech, he stayed away from using AI in the making of Intersection, crafting it instead as a deeply personal creation.
When not composing D-Bell enjoys traveling, collecting and restoring vintage audio tech, analogue equipment and old cassette players. Did we not say this teen was in a league of his own?