I’ve been admiring Kristen Barredo’s visual artwork from afar for a few years since meeting her in Stockton back in 2009-ish. We both eventually ended up moving to Sacramento, and found each other again in the Sacramento music scene at the Red Museum. I was pleasantly surprised when I heard she had a band that dropped this new beautiful album and made all the visuals for it. Her drawings are dreamy, sensual, and retro. This girl can draw like no other, has an incredible sense of style, AND she can sing.

“We want people to dance to good beats and heart wrenching lyrics.”

Blush is a funk, and pop duo formed in Sacramento CA. The band consists of music producer and keyboardist Jaycob Greenlee, and vocalist Kristen Barredo. Their music has been described as “a dive-y nightclub,” or “Aaliyah meets Washed Out” by listeners. With a rich layered sound, the tracks feature funky guitars and retro-synths, catchy bass-lines, and dynamic drums under Kristen’s smooth haunting vocals. Jaycob’s funky old-school production will get your head bobbing immediately.

Even the music production is a personal affair. Using the classic MPC 2000XL, Jaycob samples vinyls purchased at record stores, through thrifting or ordering a 30 year old record from Romania on ebay.

Kristen: “We are both are heavily influenced by the soothing tunes of Sade, we want people to dance to good beats and heart wrenching lyrics. We just released our first mix tape this year and looking into playing more local shows.”

Kristen Barredo and producer Jaycob Greenlee

“I really wanted to emulate movement into my illustrations. I liked the idea of illustrating a woman dancing, or anything candid for that matter. It was something I envisioned when listening to Blush recordings for the first time. I’ve been getting bored of drawing face portraits and excessive hair. Visually, I knew I needed to adapt to a different style. The album artwork gave me the opportunity to challenge myself.”

“My brother, Nico, is a graphic designer, and he’s been pretty helpful with text and color. He’s allowed me to be unafraid of bold colors and go crazy with composition. Because that is truly how I perceive our music: high energy and colorful. My experience with making music for the first time really helped me evolve artistically. As long as Jaycob and I keep making music, I will keep broadening my horizons with art.”

Find out more:

Soundcloud: https://soundcloud.com/blushraid209

Bandcamp: https://blushraid.bandcamp.com/releases

Kristen’s artwork: http://kristenbarredo-blog.tumblr.com/

Nico’s artwork: https://www.instagram.com/nicophotos/

Photo by Hali Castro