Brendan Brisk Releases ‘Chai Tea / Tai Chi’ Video: Exclusive Premiere

Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania-based composer, producer and multi-instrumentalist Brendan Brisk unveiled a new album entitled Relaxylvania last year via Astrology Days Records, a label co-founded by and Cabinet‘s Pappy Biondo. JamBase is pleased to premiere the video for Relaxylvania’s “Chai Tea / Tai Chi.”

Brisk released his debut album, Astral Counterfeit, in 2016. Brendan then spent four years writing, recording and producing the material featured on the 10-track Relaxylvania. “It was never a project I wanted to rush into completing, so there was a lot of time to experience life in between sessions,” Brisk said of the LP. “I feel like having no time constraints allowed me to experiment with different arrangements and atmospheric production. The members of my band (Bernard Gavlick, Justin Malinowski and Miles Orfanella) also played a big role in completing this album; their talent and commitment really helped push it to another level.”

Relaxylvania takes its name from a fantasy land Brendan dreamed up. “Each track evokes a different mood, and my goal was always to provide the listener with a wide variety of sounds,” explained Brisk. “I have been inspired by the ‘album’ format since receiving my first CD player at the age of 5. There is something all-encompassing about listening to music that’s been packaged with a title, artwork, a track listing and liner notes. I always fantasized about having my own album, and I am thankful for my band, friends and family for helping me stay dedicated towards its completion.”

Brisk retreated to his home studio when the pandemic hit. “Being trapped inside motivated me to put a lid on this project and retreating to my home studio was a great way to escape all of the crazy things happening in the world and placed me in a more positive and creative headspace,” the musician added. “I am looking forward to the future and the possibility of playing live shows with my band again soon.”

“Chai Tea / Tai Chi,” which Brendan described as “like two songs,” is the fourth track on Relaxylvania. “The first half is earthy and grounded like Chai Tea, and the second half is flowing and inward, yet cosmic, like Tai Chi,” said Brisk. “Duality has always intrigued me and I think this song’s structure represents that.”

Brendan Brisk tapped Ryan Wood to direct the clip, which was inspired by the work of Spike Jonze, specifically the video for ‘Drop’ by The Pharcyde. “Ryan is an extremely driven director/visionary who helped sculpt the ideas for this music video into reality,” Brisk noted of Wood. “Without his strong work ethic, this video would not have been possible. We planned everything out right before the pandemic, so there were a lot of roadblocks we had to jump over to complete this video.”

“After a few months of shooting, I am very proud of this video and believe it is a great visual counterpart to my favorite song from Relaxylvania,” finished Brisk. Check out Brendan Brisk’s “Chai Tea / Tai Chi” video below:

John Kimock discussed Brendan Brisk and the launch of Astrology Days Records during an interview featured on the latest episode of The JamBase Podcast.