Introducing #132 - Brijs
Let us introduce you to indie pop artist Brijs, who has just released his debut single ‘Glitra’. Having worked with names like Will Joseph Cook and Girli, this is his first outing by himself. ‘Glitra’ is a brilliant small piece of pop music that could fill any enormous space with it’s layers and percussion.
Brijs took a moment to have a chat with us about his music.
So your debut track - ‘Glitra’ is out now, can you tell us what it is about ?
Yes it is! It's a celebration of a group of new friends I made in my mid-twenties. We started as this gang of drifters who all spent two years living together as property guardians in an old mansion in our home town in Kent and have remained very close since. Glitra is actually an old norse word which was used to describe light on the horizon at sea - I found it an amazing metaphor for that indefinite destination we chase in all relationships. I wanted to capture this picture of love and friendship as endless pursuits.
You have worked with a number of names such as Will Joseph Cook, Girli, and also written compositions for the BBC and BFI. What has made you decide to release your own music? And why did it take so long?
It was about priorities. I’ve wanted to write music for film and TV since I was 13 and I think I always will, but writing songs and making records is something I HAVE to do at the same time - it helps me stay in touch with my voice and sound as an artist. Working full-time writing music for other people drained me of the time and energy needed to make music for myself for nearly 3 years. It took leaving my job and London to get back to a headspace where I could write a whole record.
Who would you say are your key musical influences?
I think from working as a “jobbing composer” I have learned to take on inspiration from a different sound, era, genre nearly everyday, so they are so varied. Generally speaking I’ve always been drawn to guitar music most and you can definitely hear that - from the greats like Bowie, Simon, Cohen, etc through to my teen years of Bombay Bicycle Club, Blink 182, Radiohead, Arcade Fire, to my twenties with Vampire Weekend, Haim, Tame Impala, to more recent discoveries of Perfume Genius, Khruangbin, Kevin Morby, Temples and Weyes Blood. Film music is undeniably a huge influence too - Morricone, Barry and Vangelis in particular.
This is the first taster of your debut album, which is due out later this year. How is that coming along?
It’s all done - just waiting in the wings. I’m going to put it out track by track throughout this year up until the end of November. Again, there’s a story and journey and I want to take people through that step by step
The album’s recording process saw you leave you London life, what led to that decision? And where did you move to and how did it effect you?
So about three years ago I was working full time as a composer in London. I got to a crisis point where I had realised I was losing focus on what I wanted to do with music. Luckily, an opportunity came up to move back to my rural hometown in Kent and take up a property guardianship of this dilapidated but beautiful mansion. The rent was so cheap I knew it was a chance to step back and re-assess for a while. So I decided to quit my job and take the chance on it.
What followed was two years where I made a whole new group of friends, re-evalued how I wanted to live and learned a few important lessons about love too. I started writing and recording demos for the album in the house. It follows that story - the decision to leave London, arrive in a place that felt like a proper home and fall in love with a group of people.
The album is produced by Rob Brinkmann, who has worked with Drake, Royal Blood and many more. How did that partnership come about?
Our managers are good friends and I was looking for someone to produce the record so we got set up on a little music date. I met Rob in a cafe in Battersea near where his studio, Kite Yard. He also brought another artist along, Be No Rain, who was just about to complete his first record with Rob. The three of us launched into this seemingly endless conversation about our philosophies as musicians, pop-culture and ambitions. I left about four hours later almost in shock - it was clear that we were a perfect match in terms of approach and imagination but also very complimentary in terms of the different approaches we could bring. I’m a producer myself but honestly Rob is the kind of A-league producer I could work a whole lifetime to be and never reach - half his brain is the old school white lab coat engineer perfectionist and the other half is basically the musical Willy Wonka - insane, but ingeniously so.
So now the track is out there, what next?
There is a video for Glitra dropping on May 14th that I’ve been busy Directing/Editing myself, then perhaps a little something else exciting the following week, watch this space / follow my socials. Then my next single “Velvet Ditch" is out June 10th. It’s obviously a weird time for promoting music but I’m just going to keep engaging with people in anyway I can and hopefully head towards a more normal 2021 with some new fans in tow.