Escape To A Dream With The Music of Bree

In the depths of human emotions lie profound tales waiting to be told. Behind every artist, there exists a personal narrative, a story etched into their being. Such is the case with the dreampop collective, Bree.

The Story Behind Bree

Bree, composed of Paul Cruz, Vincent Villa, and cousins Arian Rana and Francis Nery, was established in July 2022, originally as a three-piece outfit. The formation of the band was borne after Paul suffered a mild stroke which rendered him helpless for a couple of months. Building anxieties, depression and a general fear for life, Paul needed an outlet, and thought of inviting cousins Arian and Francis to form a band to augment his thoughts and depressive tendencies. While initially serving as an outlet of sorts, the music the band made ostensibly sounded good that made them decide to consider fully establishing the band. Vincent, a common friend of Arian and Francis, eventually joined the band in January the following year.

A name pulled out of Paul and Arian’s love for J.R.R. Tolkien’s work, Bree, taken from the legendarium, was a place of respite, and cheer for weary travelers and sojourners, a neutral town open to all. And according to the band, it resonates to what kind of music they want to share to people.

“The music we want to make (and have made) seems to be applicable for

travelling, long drives, and adventures of sorts, so we sort of found a resonance and affinity for it.”

An Ethereal and Atmospheric Soundscapes

Layered with ethereal and atmospheric soundscapes of Dream Pop, the music of Bree relies on creating a dream-like and hazy melodies that gives a mesmerizing listening experience. Heavily influenced by two distinct albums and one band — Turnover’s 2015 album Peripheral Vision, The Paper Kites’ 2015 album Twelvefour, and bird. Other influences include Cigarettes After Sex, The Cure.

Explaining in details the music they have, Paul speaks, “Dream Pop is an Indie sub-genre that is usually conflated with Shoegaze music. While the latter is broader in terms of musical approaches, dream pop tends to be more ethereal and atmospheric in its sound with a heavy use of reverb, echos and chorus. In essence, dream pop songs tend to make one feel like he or she is in a different plane (a dream, badly put) when listening, and evokes a sense of general jovial lightness. Some examples of dream pop bands here in the Philippines are bird., Cinema Lumiere, and The Strange Creatures (and Bree!), globally, you could consider Turnover, Mazzy Star and Men I Trust, to name a few”.

Life Off Stage

Just like any other bands in the early stage of their musical journey, the members of the band have day jobs to support other priorities as well as their passion for music.

“We all have day jobs! Paul does HR work for a start-up, Francis and Arian work together as medical transcribers for a global healthcare company, and Vincent writes for three general publications. Suffice it to say, it’s hard for us to find a common time, time and time again, as we operate on different shifts, schedules, and locations. Adding to this, Paul is a girl dad to the Bree-bies, twin girls aged six. Vincent recently got married, and Arian recently got engaged. But it’s that common love for music that binds us inspite of our schedules and priorities”, Vincent stated.

Challenges and Opportunities

From having 100 people camped in a tiny concert area of Imajin: Arts and Music Café in Marikina to being invited in a hotel event in Pasay City. Bree have come a long way since their EP release in 2022 but admits that they still struggle to play out of character as they are not used to doing cover songs that the mass usually wants to hear.

Vincent shared, “Earlier this year, Bree was invited to perform at the Philippine Vespa Day in Marriott Hotel in Pasay City, and to provide entertainment to over 2000 paying guests and Vespa enthusiasts. As we are not a show band, it posed a challenge for us to: 1) Do cover songs, and 2) Extend our sets. Sure, as a band, we showcase our original songs, and do covers from bands we love (i.e. Turnover, The Paper Kites), but to be invited to perform in a prime event out of our character and identity really became a challenge. Essentially, we had to study and learn a whole lot of ‘masa’-friendly and pop songs – songs we were not used to playing. And while we were able to deliver the general expectation, it really felt weird to be out of character.”

While Bree struggles to play and cover commercially released songs in a hotel, the band felt proud setting foot in both UP Fairs in Manila and Los Baños as well as playing alongside Stephen Speaks.

“In the short span of our existence, Bree has been blessed with several opportunities to share our music to people. Bree is one of less than 10 bands that were able to perform in both the UP Fair in Diliman, and UPLB February Fair in the same week. In between the two UP Fairs, we played alongside Stephen Speaks during his Philippine Tour.”, Francis shared.

But beyond the big gigs and events, what the band would consider as the most significant milestone is, as Francis states, “the relationships that we were able to build with other musicians who continue to support the local independent music scene here in the Philippines”.

Music and The Experience Around It

When the band launched their EP Distant Shores back in December of 2022, the band had no particular plans but to eagerly share their music to people no matter how big it is.

“As a band, we’d say that the most memorable experience that changed how we see life and music was during our Distant Shores EP Launch last December 2022. In this event held in a tiny space in Imajin: Arts and Music Café where over 100 people cramped to see us perform for the very first time, we had a collective understanding that we have something to share to people, and that we had to be better in terms of sharing them (musically and socially). See, for Bree, a new band that had no ties, no background, and no plans (at the time), to experience such an intimate event this event enabled us to collectively agree that this is something that we would want to pursue. Had that event turned out different, we might have not pursued writing music together.”, Francis stated.

He added that the best thing about being a musician is the opportunity to make music that they would be proud of. He continued, “As a byproduct, should people appreciate what we’ve done would actually be a bonus. Playing for crowds, big or small, or going to different places, these are all byproducts of the opportunity to create something good. And we’re generally happy with the nature of our creations.”

Despite love and appreciation they have been receiving, Bree also already accepted the fact that their music is not for everyone, especially in a country with a diverse musical preferences. But this does not discouraged them to keep releasing new music. With the release of their current single, “Ponder”, they want touch more people with their music.

“Ponder”

A song that captures the idea of “escaping”. Inspired by a situation that’s not supposed to last but is the only form of solace you can find and want to prolong.

According to Arian, “The song builds and serves as a continuation from one of our earlier released singles called ‘Haze’. Call it it’s antithesis. ‘Haze’ is about finding a distraction from a broken relationship; one that can leave a memorable trace to wash out a heartbreak. In regular terms (and badly put), a one-night stand. ‘Ponder’ talks about the morning after where reality is bound to set in and the one who sings it tries his best to lie about the end of the encounter. The room where they’re staying is sort of acting like a shelter from the truth. Ponder started out as an acoustic song more than 5 years ago. Outside of Bree (Arian here) I’m sort of an idiot when it comes to naming stuff, so the original title of it was ‘Quarter Ponder’. When we decided to turn it into a Bree song, the first word was dropped so people could take it more seriously.”

The song was recorded in one day. It was mixed, and mastered at, and

produced by Whosoever Recordings.

“Recording day is always fun because it’s half work, and half indulging in food.”, Arian stated.

The band hopes that the listeners will enjoy not just the music but also the story of the song and indulge themselves in a total musical experience.

Arian said, “The goal was always to set a mood of peace,

which is why some of our listeners describe Bree as ‘driving music’. Ponder is about escape, and everybody needs that at some point.”

An Official Lyric Video for “Ponder” is coming out to help boost its resonance to people. While the song continues to gain streams on Spotify, the band dreams for the song to get listed on an official Spotify playlist.

The Importance of Being Social

As the music industry hops with the digitization of society, Bree saw the significance of having a song trends on any social media platform to reach a wider audience.

With the understanding that their music is an acquired taste, Paul stated, “We need to overreach compared to other bands so as to showcase our offer to people who would otherwise not know about us. We believe that our music is applicable to everyone, albeit in respective situations. Hence, when they go through something in life, they would know that a band called Bree has a song for them in their specific life state. This is also why we keep very active social media channels. Our Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and Tiktok are all active day in and day out for us to be able to engage with our potential listeners”.

Paul also admitted, in which the whole band also agreed, is that they need to be more social and build strong connections.

“Reality-wise, no matter how good your song is, if you fail to build relationships and dynamics with prominent people in the music scene, your band won’t go anywhere. Badly put, it’s all about connections”. – Paul Cruz

Bree is Your Life’s Soundtrack

Paul shared, talking about how their music can affect people, “As what we always say during our gigs, our songs are relatable depending on your current life state. We agree that it’s not something you would loop on a daily basis because you simply want to. But for any circumstance or situation that befalls you, we are here for you.”

He added, “Bree is an acquired taste. We knew from the get-go that our music will not be appreciated by everyone, and we were fine with the idea. So long as there are people who would resonate with our music, we’re good. For the few avid listeners of the band who have already intimated themselves with our music, the general effect is peace and calmness; Essentially, driving or background music for when they go out of town, travel, or simply chilling and relaxing over coffee. Bree seeks to create music that pokes at the internalization aspects of one’s life – that as you go through your life, our music can serve as your soundtrack.”

“We love that mountain sound, the dreamy iridescence, and the music of the earth. And as you go on trekking highways, or climbing a mountain, or seeking distant shores, we want to be there with you as you entertain your escapist tendencies in life, and there’s a Bree song that you can listen to when you’re feeling up or down, or anything in between.” – Paul Cruz

Let the music of Bree take you on a journey of introspection and contemplation. Listen to “Ponder” now and let your mind escape and discover the beauty that lies within yourselves.