Luja Murfi Return With Their Sun-Drenched Psychedelia on Latest Single 'Essence'




 

Epitomising their sun-drenched Gold Coast surroundings in audible form, Luja Murfi create songs that prove idyllic for lazy, lethargic days in the heat, all the while making room for euphoric moments of sky-scraping bliss that ebb and flow beneath their steady song structures. Their self-titled EP, released at the back end of 2020, perfectly demonstrates their capability to move between different tempos, rhythms and instrumentation not only between songs on the EP but within the tracks themselves, all held down by Luke Johnson's subtle blend of jazz and funk derived percussion. 
Luja Murfi's discography thus far incorporates a wide variety of musical influence and genre exploration. While their trademark fusion of easy-listening, soft-rock and psychedelia is of prominence, an all-encapsulating groove that entwines itself throughout the rhythm section is unavoidably detectable, strongly suggesting that this funk and jazz influence is one that is shared amongst the band.
Latest release 'Essence' sees Luja Murfi adopt even more of a  hypnotic, laid-back approach to their writing. While 2020's four-song body of work demonstrates their ability to intertwine simple melody and progression with experimental time-signatures and groove-ridden bass and drums, 'Essence' simply adopts a simplistic tom-driven back-beat that sits behind a variation of trance-inducing guitar drone and percussion. 'Essence' encompasses the exoticism of Cymande's 'Dove' and the planetary psychedelia of a space-travel soundtrack that is Black Sabbath's 'Planet Caravan'. The introduction of Miles Morel's relaxed and drifting vocals lends itself perfectly to the subtlety of the track, ringing bells of Chris Isaak when combined with Luke Morel's glassy, spread-out guitar chords that shimmer from start to climactic finish.
''Essence' was originally a demo track written by one member and predominant songwriter Miles Morel a few years back. It was resurfaced and brought forward to be elected, dissected and projected into the world following a full-team re-writing and structuring from its original 'essence'' the band tell of the track's writing process.
Luja Murfi's throwback, whether intentional or not, to an early-seventies psych-rock-era style of instrumentation, arrangement and production is hard to disregard. The band's decision to live-track drums, guitar and bass are very much responsible for the jam-oriented touch of 'Essence', with only vocals being overdubbed. 
'The song was recorded at WaveForm Studios here in Burleigh Heads, Queensland by our good friend Anthony Vallone. It was instrumentally live-tracked for the organic band feel, with Miles on guitar, Jax Fostagic laying down the bass and Luke 'Fish' Johnson holding it all together with the drums. It was then ripened with Luke Morel gliding over the top with the sonic Ebow. Further percussive elements were added by Fish, then lastly the Morel brothers synced in with the vocal melodies.'
Listen to the latest single 'Essence' on all major streaming platforms now.

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