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Jan 27, 2022 By Joey Arnone Photography by Tim Toda

Poolside (Jeffrey Paradise) and Oakland duo Brijean (composed of percussionist Brijean Murphy and multi-instrumentalist Doug Stuart) have shared a new collaborative single, “Better When We’re Close,” via a visualizer. Watch below.

“‘Better When We’re Close’ started as a jazzy idea that Casey Butler and I cooked up in my bedroom last year, and I immediately felt that it was the perfect start to a Brijean collab given their jazz backgrounds and sound,” states Paradise in a press release. “I sent it to them and they sent back something completely different that still retained the original feel, the start of a very exciting back-and-forth that involved Casey adding sax and flute, me adding vocals and production and a slow, collaborative orchestration build out. What we ended up with is a song that feels distinctly Brijean and distinctly Poolside that feels like the platonic ideal of a collaboration between us. I’m super proud of this one and hope that you enjoy it as much as we enjoyed making it!”

“I first met Jeff for a Poolside show in Mexico in late 2017,” adds Murphy. “I’d been recommended online—by someone I didn’t know—to do the gig. Thinking it through as little as possible, I hopped on a plane and hoped for the best. We’ve been hanging and playing ever since—he’s wonderful. We’ve toured much of the world together, dodged a brain-eating bacteria, played crusty clubs and big stages, drank a lot of wine…and now we’ve made a song together. In those years of touring, my partner Doug Stuart (keys, bass, production) and I found ourselves in a long-distance relationship. This song stemmed from feelings of longing and isolation when in transit, and naturally took on a new meaning within the context of the pandemic. It was lovely to collaborate, remotely, with Jeff (production, vox) and Casey (saxophone, flute); exploring this lush and vibey song together.”

Last year, Brijean released the album Feelings via Ghostly International.

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