Brijean – “Euphoric Ave”

(Photo Credit: Swanson Studios)

As a reminder, “Workin On It” was Brijean’s first release from their upcoming album Macro, and I described it as intense. I wavered, thinking I should never label anything in Brijean’s discography in that way. However, I then mentioned it in my “Roller Coaster” review, only to shilly-shally again. Maybe it’s Brijean Murphy’s shaker, the upbeat pace, or the layers of sound. I don’t know; I am still struggling to explain why I used the word. However, listening to “Euphoric Ave,” the third song released from Macro, I can see why I might have chosen the word to describe “Workin On It.”

“Euphoric Ave” is a song I am sure I heard on a twisted and psychedelic Saturday morning cartoon from my youth that would no longer be considered appropriate for children because of all of the hidden hallucinogenic references. The colors are matte yet bright at the same time. The illustrated wind moves in sync with the strings. The flute is a bird chattering to me. The percussion is the patter of people’s feet even though they are bare and walking on the grass of an Italian hillside. The characters I pass as I float by are “so familiar, yet strange.” I rise higher, passing the solitary cloud in the sky, then slip through a pinpoint star in the black void of outer space.

The time warp takes me to my early twenties. I am in a world of multiple Dougies and Brijeans, each with its own unique personality. The ones sitting on the sides of me on the couch say, “Hey. You are no longer in the world of the American Dream. ‘Psychotropical rain. (and) Let’s go try something new.’” The reality with an edge I once knew cracks and falls into pieces before becoming dust. I am back in matte yet bright, rounded and soft.