Bria Park

December 5, 2014

Los Angeles has started to reveal its cracks to me. Through the facade of a haven for artists, endless opportunities and inspiration everywhere, there’s an alternate reality of diminished dreams, and exhausted expression. Where fallen creators get caught up in the noise, paralyzed by the how, and settle for alternate ambitions. Still, a few of us remain strong in the trenches trying to defy the odds.

So when nomad musician Bria Park was in town, I wanted to do some guerrilla filmmaking with a voice that could rise above the doubt and restore faith for just a night.

Where better than LACMA, a place that charges admission to view ‘art’ among tourist taking selfies. I wanted to give them a true sense of LA- an artist with a bleeding heart. Prepare yourself for a voice that holds undeniable raw honesty, which is unshakeable, and will linger on.

Bria is a wondering soul – she may be back packing through South America, hitchhiking in Canada or hiding out on her brother’s farm in Vermont at any given moment. But as I watched her converse with a LACMA security guard in Filipino, bonding over her grandmother who was from his native town, and getting us the five-minute window we needed to get a single take, I was reminded of her magic.

Her genuine warmth brings out a light in people. She can get a group of old friends to shrug off their worries, give in to spontaneity, breaking out into improve beats and impromptu covers. There’s a natural ease with her art that may come from her family who has been holding jam sessions since she could walk.

To her credit, she also has the discipline of a craftsman who takes her passion seriously, never missing a day to exercise her vocals and always listening to the world. That’s why we spent the rest of the night following her into elevators, parking structures, etc chasing different sounds. How the sound morphs from the lobby, to the echo of the hallway, to the buzz of the crowd outside in the first video is all Bria. Here, you’ll find her in a doorway that produced a reverb similar to some of the music that inspires her own.