Bay Area locals and UC Berkeley alumni, Brijean Murphy and Doug Stuart released their debut album, Feelings on February 26, 2021 with Ghostly International. The album incorporates various styles with most notable influences including jazz, disco and house. The duo incorporates groovy 70s and 80s aesthetics with funky bass lines and boisterous synths to create a hypnotic sound which simultaneously puts you in your feels and on the dance floor.
Both Murphy and Stuart have a hearty musical career and have been involved in a plethora of different groups and projects. Murphy has played percussion with chill-wave electronica bands, Poolside and Toro y Moi. While Stuart performs with local bay area groups, Bells Atlas, and Astronauts, etc., he also released a solo album, Familiar Future, in October of 2020.
On Feelings, Brijean invites their listeners to contemplate the duality of the last 11 months. The album reflects both the highs and the lows of 2020 as Brijean contemplates an emotional journey culminating in a celebration of the good amongst all of the bad. Overall, the album encapsulates the myriad of emotions music lovers have been missing since the Pandemic began, evoking the euphoric sensations of connecting with a community on a crowded dance floor. The album is guided by an elegant fusion of funky, fresh, tropicalia-sounding percussion, keyboard and bass lines, coupled with contemplative, airily-delivered lyrics to create dance music for the body, mind and soul no matter where you are listening.
Kennedy Rogers: What is it like transitioning from band member to front artist and how has that experience been?
Brijean Murphy: I think that it felt really good to step out and experiment with my own project because I have full creative control — of course with the help of Doug. But yeah, it just feels really good to have an idea and go with it and put my voice to a project for the first time. It is bizarre just existing in the world these days and in the context of putting out an album while being so physically disconnected from community and the outlet of music and the outlet of being on dance floors and going to shows. So, it’s strange but we will take it for now for having our album and putting it out.
KR: In what ways have you been fostering your creativity without community and performances?
BM: I’ve been doing a lot of visual art experimentation and projects. I made a 6×4 foot stained glass piece. I designed it and worked with this videographer and set designer Nathan Castiel, who did the “Wifi Beach” video, so that was really fun because I’ve always wanted to make a stained glass piece. I also worked with an all female team via video call to create the “Hey Boy” video, which was our last single leading up to the album, and with that I got to experiment with my static visual style and move that into an animated world that paired with our music which felt really good and it also felt great to work with women. It was like the most socialization I’ve had in all of 2020 meeting religiously on Skype or Zoom to create the video. I’ve been working on shifting to visual art while we’re releasing the album but then working on more music soon and just staying busy and trying to stay inspired.
http://https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j8ykx_PLPNg
http://https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MNMhLKRLvJk
KR: Brijean’s influences are expansive; there are tinges of French/Latin jazz, disco and house music in your own work. What artist would you say have had the biggest influence on you and your work?
BM: It’s hard to say because I love so many different types of music, but for this project, we draw from a lot of house music and disco and jazz and try to find that in a modern world. Some of my favorite artists new and old are: Moodymann for house, Candido for disco, Alice Coltrane and Lonnie Liston Smith for jazz, Tito Puente for salsa and things on the latin side, Mongo Santamaría is an amazing congero who I grew up listening to and was inspired by. Those are my top influences that I grew up listening to and learned to appreciate more as I went through college and started playing in my first band and then forming my own band now.
KR: What was it like working with groups like Toro y Moi and Poolside? Do you prefer being a part of a larger group or working more intimately?
BM: I love them both and all. It’s so so fun to play with a bunch of people and a bunch of really talented players. I miss that and I also love playing with Doug because creatively we speak so well with each other and are often on the same tiff so it just makes working together really flow and seamless and feel good. I feel supported in this project and I don’t have to justify or pitch ideas. We will just try things and see what feels good and what sticks.
KR: You and Doug Stuart first began making music together in 2018. Brijean released their first EP in 2019. How has this album and release process differed from your EP or other projects?
BM: I think I am just learning as a songwriter and a front person. So it feels like a graduation to me from the Walkie Talkie (2019) mini album to this album because I am learning through the process and within the project which feels exciting. I think that all of the gigs and shows and opportunities that I’ve taken up to this point have informed my knowledge and sense of expression.
KR: What is one of your favorite memories from performing?
BM: Some of my favorite shows have been playing in Mexico City at Corona Capital, with Poolside. It was one of the last tours we went on before everything shut down but it was so much fun and the crowd was insane, filled with dancers, and just such a positive, fierce vibration happening with the Mexican Crowd. People just come to dance and have fun and live and that felt so good. Another favorite performance was with Toro y Moi at the Hollywood Bowl. I grew up in Los Angeles but had never been to the Bowl before and my dad was a musician and he had played there in 1980 for the PlayBoy Jazz Festival. I remember him telling me that was one of the shows his father went to and I never met my grandpa. It was a nice moment to be on the same stage that my dad had played on and at a legendary venue in Los Angeles and to know that my grandfather had been in the audience at one point. It just felt like a “connecting the dots” moment and was really special.
Make sure to check out Feelings out now on your preferred music streaming app and head over to Brijean’s website for stunning art, merch, and more!
Article by Kennedy Rogers.