Musician Michael Espinach, who goes by the stagename BREATHERRR, is a California State University, Long Beach alumnus who is making ripples in Long Beach’s psychedelic music scene.
The Daily 49er put on their swim caps and goggles and plunged into BREATHERRR’s world for a talk about his sound, what he’s working on and where he came from.
Where are you from?
I was born in West Covina area and I moved to Long Beach when I was seven. I’ve lived in Long Beach for a while. During high school I moved in with my dad who lives in Pasadena so I was there for four years. But for the most part, I’m in Long Beach. [Long Beach] is crazy eclectic. I love the fact that the vibe changes so drastically, like you can literally cross the street and you’ll be in a completely different sort of zone. I feel culturally things are really, really progressive here. There’s so much going on in L.A., but Long Beach has a certain open quality to it. I think it’s being by the ocean and because it’s so eclectic here you do get varying [music] genres and different audiences. You get people that are into lots of different things and it’s not as congested as going into the city. So that absolutely helps my creative process. It’s not stifling.
What did you study at CSULB?
I studied religious studies with a concentration on East-European philosophies like Buddhism. Recently I’ve kind of gone back to the simplicity from those points of view. The thing with college and the thing with my experience at [CSULB] was… my most college moment was my second to last semester, I was taking 18 units because I was trying to get out. I remember during finals week I was at the library and I saw these girls in their pajamas and they had sleeping bags and they were studying, and I just thought that was the coolest thing. All of these people are so amped on nailing this test and are willing to sleep on the ground. I love that people are being hungry for it and I think that’s the biggest thing that I got [from college] was knowing that I could finish. Knowing that I could see something through and that absolutely [meant] more than my major.
Why do you go by “BREATHERRR”?
[sidebar title=”What listeners should look forward to:” align=”right” background=”on” border=”all” shadow=”on”]- New music video by Khodee Billiet out on Halloween.
- Show at 4th Street Vine on November 7 at 7p.m.
- New album “Almond Noir” out next fall
I had an old band called I Am You and we were a three-piece psychedelic rock band, but we were mostly instrumental. Whenever we’d play live my tuning in between songs would take forever. Even live now I use segments from movies in between my songs so it keeps the story going. So initially I called it “Breatherrr” for that sort of interlude. Once I started making music under that name I [thought it was cool], like something that breathes. The significance [of the name] is actually pretty major now. I think when someone takes a breather they have to slow things down and they have to take a look at a big picture. Sometimes you get so involved in things that you kind of lose track of what you’re trying to do. As far as why there’s three r’s , it makes you look at it and wonder, “Why?” I’d rather people have questions than be able to try to sum things up as, “You’re this” or “You’re that.”
Why is your debut album called “Resin Ballet”?
It’s psychedelic music, and I remember I [smoked marijuana] for a very long while and what’s funny with “resin” that resin is when you’re out of weed and that’s the last effort, you’ve scraped the pipe for this one last black, sticky stuff and it’s not good for you, it has probably the most tar, but you have the desperation to get high. I like that juxtaposition of something dark and sticky, kind of desperate as oppose to something like ballet, which is immensely graceful and totally beautiful and gorgeous. There’s so much power and strength there. [Ballet] looks very effortless but you know that those ballerinas [put in work]. I love body movements and I think that this next album is really going to try to get into the nitty-gritty of that. Just humanness, being a creature. You can’t have the light without the heavy, you can’t have the light without the dark.
What is your sound and where is it going?
I try to have a certain juxtaposition between sounds like intense stuff with ambient stuff, while making it transition well. I call [the sound] post-psychedelic and although I’m sober, I feel like my life in general these days is very, very psychedelic. And think that my music is, if anything, going to get more intense. I’m defiantly messing with a lot of [different sounds] like jazz and jazz rhythms. If anything, I’m trying to make psychedelic-noise-jazz pop, like spiking the Kool-Aid. I’m applying pop structure to more things now. So when I say pop, I’m thinking in terms of Michael Jackson as much as Nirvana, what got me into music. I’m really into Miles Davis but then I’m also really into Slayer and Dove. I like especially what I am doing right now, as far as working on this new album, I am trying to apply certain aesthetic things that I am really into. I try to put myself in the certain headspace where every sound is something that you could imagine as a tangible thing.
What are your goals in the coming year?
Besides working on the album, getting new merchandise out. I’m also trying to curate shows [in Long Beach] with stuff that I’m into. I just submitted to South By Southwest [music festival] so ideally I’m looking to tour next year around March, regardless if I get into South By Southwest or not. Hopefully within the next couple of months I’ll have some more songs. I do plan on putting out a holiday EP, so hopefully within the next two months I’ll have at least a cover and a Christmas song. This time of the year is really big for me. I’m really into the vibe. Around this time of year everything slows down in a sense. I think it’s a very reflective time of the year because everyone is looking at the year thus far and what they’re going to do differently.