Los Angeles-based duo Brijean, featuring vocalist/percussionist Brijean Murphy (Toro y Moi, Poolside) and multi-instrumentalist/producer Doug Stuart, have shared a third single ahead of their new nine-track EP Angelo, coming Aug. 5 on Ghostly International. A bittersweet tribute to the Bay Area community that Murphy and Stuart were forced to leave behind while writing and recording Angelo, “Caldwell’s Way” follows previous singles “Ooo La La” and “Shy Guy.”
Through “Caldwell’s Way,” Brijean open a musical door to “a part of my life that I knew couldn’t come back,” says Murphy in a statement. Over technicolor organ, watery synths, and delicate bass and drum machine, Murphy looks back on the invaluable friendships that made the Bay home, personifying the place as she croons, “I really miss the way / the way that you would often hold me / I’m only miles away / Maybe I’m just feeling lonely,” then vocalizes wordlessly, as if lost in her emotions. Brijean keep the mellow instrumental interesting without counteracting its melancholy, peppering in keyboard and bass flourishes, lush strings and even birdcalls from their former neighborhood. It’s a rosy, tender tribute to better days that insists you sway to it.
“Dougie and I wrote this song in the midst of deep life changes,” explains Murphy. “We found ourselves uprooted in the Southwest, processing both personal and geographic loss. I had never felt physical withdrawals from a place and community, until then. I missed The Bay and our friends in it—even thinking about certain buildings and streets brought me comfort and longing. This song is a loving farewell to the people and places I may never embrace again.”
It was the sudden loss of Murphy’s father and both of Stuart’s parents that set Brijean on a winding path away from home, as they reset in four different cities in under two years, coming to settle in L.A. Using Murphy’s 1981 Toyota Celica as their traveling studio (and naming their EP after it), Brijean used Angelo “to get us out of our grief and into our bodies,” the singer says.
In August, Brijean will support their Feelings follow-up via their first headlining shows in San Francisco, Los Angeles and Brooklyn. They’ll also make an international appearance alongside Poolside in Mexico City later in the month.
Listen to “Caldwell’s Way” below and find Brijean’s tour dates further down. You can preorder their Angelo EP here.
Brijean Tour Dates:
August
11 – San Francisco, CA @ The Independent
13 – Los Angeles, CA @ Zebulon
17 – Brooklyn, NY @ Elsewhere Rooftop
19-22 – Long Pond, PA @ Elements Festival
27 – Mexico City, MX @ Auditorio BlackBerry (with Poolside)
