Belief, the experimental dance music project of Stella Mozgawa (Warpaint, Kurt Vile, Courtney Barnett) and Boom Bip, share their self-titled debut album, Belief, today on Lex Records. Today we have the video for “Dreams,” directed by Maxim Kelly!
“This album was a long haul due to the lost years of the pandemic but the extra time gave us space to reflect on many of the live recording sessions and embellish on our favorites,” says Boom Bip. “Stella and I have hours of music recorded and choosing what we wanted to release for this album was challenging in the best way. It’s wild to think back on our beginning at Absolutely’s film studio to various studios and spaces throughout the years. I can hear the influence of each place in the music. It’s a journey of sound, which hopefully means there is something on there for everyone.”
“It’s been a long time coming but I’m immensely proud of the record we made together,” says Mozgawa. “It was a truly free and joyous process finding our collaborative voice—switching roles and chasing those limitless and strange sounds that we’re attracted to. I hope it brings people joy.”
“Dreams is a track that really stands out on the record,” says Boom Bip. “Its mood was a happy accident while experimenting with alternative tunings on the Prophet 06 synth. Once we heard it, we didn’t want to go back. Drum machines may have no soul but when you have Stella Mozgawa tracking live hi hats and snare over one, you sure do.”
Since unveiling the project earlier this year, Belief has shared “WOT,”—named “an absolute stormer” and one of the best songs of June by Brooklyn Vegan, “Art of Love,” “Jung,” “I Want To Be” and “Ulu” plus remixes from HAAi, Falty DL, Vanishing Twin and Boom Bip’s own rework of “I Want To Be” on their Versions EP in April.
Mozgawa, Best known as the drummer of Warpaint and a frequent collaborator with Kurt Vile, Courtney Barnett (whose wildly acclaimed Things Take Time, Take Time she co-produced) and more—and Boom Bip, the legendary, Mercury Prize-nominated L.A. producer born Bryan Charles Hollon, met more than ten years ago when Mozgawa first moved from Australia to L.A. Bonding over their mutual love of techno legends like LFO and 808 State, they found deep musical kinship and began trading ideas in earnest when Hollon took Mozgawa on tour to drum with his Neon Neon project in 2013.
In 2016 they finally found time to cram every synth and bit of gear they owned into Eric Wareheim’s Absolutely Studios and jam with a single prompt: What Would Mark Bell Do? Recording hours of improvisation, they’ve spent chunks of time over the five years since shaping that material, playing under-the-radar shows cheekily billed as Beef to flesh out ideas along the way.
