IN CONVERSATION WITH BRUX
Interview by Samo Šajn
Australian born, New York based producer and composer BRUX steps into a more intimate space with her new album Halcyon Phase. Known for her high energy, rhythm driven club music, this seven track ambient record reveals a softer and deeply personal side of her. Created over several years and shaped by isolation in Australia’s Blue Mountains, the album marks a new chapter in her creative journey.
You’re known for high energy club music. What was it like creating something quiet and introspective for Halcyon Phase?
It was such a welcome change of pace for me, and the process brought great relief as it was a scratch I had been wanting to itch for many years. The record is a manifestation of my love for cinema, modern neoclassical music, and mysticism, all things I have always had a deep interest in, but was not sure how to combine into one cohesive project.
How did the isolation and landscapes of Australia’s Blue Mountains shape the album’s sound?
The Blue Mountains hold such sacred energy, and they put me in a very calm state of mind with an open headspace while I was up there for a few months in 2020. I would go on daily walks and hikes in isolated locations to be alone with my thoughts, without listening to music or podcasts. Hearing the birds, the waterfalls, and the wind in the leaves was my soundtrack. It is one of the things I miss most about living in Australia.
These songs started as sketches in 2020. How did returning to them over the years change their meaning for you?
Yes, they started as sketches, but most of the ideas were fully realised and finished by November of that same year for a live performance of the album in Sydney. Over the years, the songs grew in depth and took on new meanings, especially once I packed up my life in Australia and moved to New York.
I began adding new layers of synths with my Moog One in 2024 and 2025, incorporating new foley samples, voice notes of forests and campfires from upstate trips, and the finishing touch was recording my upright piano at home in Brooklyn last year. Reflecting back, I see that the record has become a real collage of the last six years of travel and life experiences.
You’ve said your spiritual practice influenced this album. How did it guide your creative process?
It was in 2020 that I really focused on my meditation practice, making it an important part of my daily routine. For someone like me who thrives on adrenaline and action, practicing stillness was difficult and I continue to struggle with it. But it was that practice of stillness that helped me write from a place of peace. It subconsciously cleared my mind so I could create in a more mindful state.
Artists like Brian Eno and Ryuichi Sakamoto inspired you. What elements did you draw from them, and where did you want to find your own voice?
Going back to basics and composing on piano was something I took from Eno and Sakamoto, Morricone as well. They teach us that great ideas can exist in their purest forms, and I wanted to apply that to Halcyon Phase.
I learned classical piano growing up but abandoned it after high school, so it is very special for me to return to it on this record.
The album has been described as “vignettes from a spirit world radio.” Can you explain that idea?
A friend of mine, Richard Pike from the Australian band PVT, described the record that way when I sent it to him back in 2020 to get his thoughts on it. It felt so fitting for what I was trying to capture.
I love creating art that feels otherworldly, and I enjoy imagining this record as a discovered artefact from somewhere beyond, being analysed and studied. Like a tape cassette falling out of the sky, Donnie Darko style.
Do you see Halcyon Phase as a new direction for your music, or another side of your creative identity?
Not a new direction, more another facet of my artistry as a composer. A temporary tangent to express a softer side of myself.
How do you plan to bring the calm, layered textures of this album into a live setting?
I plan to perform live piano, my Moog One, live sampling, and live vocals. I will also be projecting my Super 8mm footage of the Blue Mountains while I perform. It will be a complete visual and audio experience.
Sources is a label focused on ambient and wellness music. What made it the right home for this project?
I wanted to work with a team who both understood and shared the same vision for the project, and Sources is exactly that. I work with so many passionate music and art lovers on the label team and it is a dream partnership.
