Brûlée can be briefly described as Jazz-Infused, Americana-Marinated Alt-Pop from Washington DC. Brûlée combines the inventive songwriting and exceptional musicianship of Aura Kanegis (vocals), Louis Matza (guitar), Andrew Brown (upright bass, backup vocals), and Lex O'Brien (drums, percussion, backup vocals) to create music spanning the spectrum of jazz, indie alt-pop, Americana, and beyond. Their songs offer fresh takes on timeless themes, melding sultry vocals and smart lyrics with creative arrangements that slide seamlessly from bossa to blues. Their sound blends everything from straight-ahead jazz ballads to loud indie alt-pop, with splashes of loungy bossa nova and acoustic Americana.

Aura Kanegis was lead singer of the all-girl, 7-piece funk band Zeala, and previously sang with a range of bands including the Cravin' Dogs, Quintessential, the U-Liners, the Outpatients, Nothing But Treble, and others, performing in venues throughout the mid-Atlantic region including the 9:30 Club, the Barns at Wolf Trap, the Kennedy Center, and the United Nations. She is a lobbyist for peace, justice, and underdogs everywhere.

Louis Matza has played guitar and written songs for bands in Chapel Hill, NC (Glass, The Foolish Things) and Berkeley, CA (Apartments 9 &12, The Underdog). For about 15 years, he’s been trying to create the perfect song by combining pop song structures, jazz chords, unique moods, impressionistic lyrics, and classic archtop guitar tone. Louis has no personal or professional relationship to lobbyists other than Aura.

Andrew Brown is an outstanding upright bass player. Andrew spent over a decade playing classical and jazz bass professionally throughout Europe while living in Vienna, Austria. He holds a Ph.D. in Music Acoustics, likes to restore old cars, rennovate bathrooms, cut down (very selectively) trees, build archtop guitars and basses and writes songs. He teaches music at the German School in Potomac, MD.  Learn more at www.awbmusic.com.

Lex O’Brien began playing professionally at age seventeen in his hometown of Corning, NY, and has since played nearly every style of music from country to free jazz to symphony to circus band. He studied percussion at Ithaca College and was solo timpanist for the college orchestra’s acclaimed performance at New York’s Lincoln Center. He was a founding member of the jazz fusion group Xyphus, and appeared on stages in upstate New York with jazz notables such as George Benson, Michael Urbaniak, Joe Farrell, and Victor Lewis, and with rock legends Fleetwood Mac. He was an original member of The Magnetics, and most recently launched the stunningly good jazz band ComplexBlue.

 

Performing at Almaz on U St. in Washington DC, March 28, 2009. Photo by Lisa Handy.

 

The Montgomery County Gazette, August 19, 2009

The City Paper, Washington, D.C., September 9, 2010

Andrew rescued his flat-backed bass from a flea market in Vienna, Austria for about a hundred bucks. He literally outbid a shop window decorator by two hundred Schillings ($20) to keep it a music instrument. It's over 100 years old, and he refurbished it himself. He can also build kitchens.

Andrew uses a Fishman pickup with no preamp running through a Polytone Taurus twin channel amp. He's got a 70's Fender Jazz in Honey Blonde Yellow, but it doesn't get to play with Lou's axes very often. Other closet relics include a ceremonial drum from Borneo that reeks of acrid smoke and a seventies high shool band glockenspeil in a lyre shape.
 

Lou suffers from a severe case of guitar acquisition syndrome:
> His two primary performing guitars are a 1961 Epiphone Sorrento and a 1959 Gretsch Anniversary (with a single filtertron pickup).

> When recording, his favorite guitar for a warm jazz tone is the single pickup Gibson ES-175. He has one made in January 1965 and another made in December 1957.

> He also plays two acoustic guitars: a blonde 1941 Gibson L-4 arch-top and a rosewood solid top Takamine from the 1980s (purchased from an optometrist named Myron in Thousand Oaks, California).

> Guitars that rarely come out of the closet include a mid-80s Rickenbacker 360, an early 60s Guild x-50, a 1978 wine red Les Paul Standard, and a 2005 custom spruce top Heritage H-575.

> His two main amps are a 1965 Fender Deluxe Reverb and a late 70s Fender Princeton Reverb.

> He also has a Roland Cube amp (bought from his friend Erik for $200) which he keeps in Lex’s basement for use in rehearsals.
 

Lex plays Gretsch drums bought in 1982, plus a bunch of loony indescribable percussion type things. He also plays vibraphone and marimba, but not with Brûlée (yet).
 

Aura wears red stiletto boots acquired from a thrift store on Georgia Avenue.