Six original characters, real arcs, and a story told through music, interviews, and the world that grows around them.
Musikase is an original story — our characters, their entangled lives, and the music that scores them — brought to life in a format you haven't seen before. At its heart is a story of life and its intersection with music: the hardships and the victories, the love and the loss, and the bond over music that holds people together. The songs don't just accompany the story; they carry it. And woven through it all are real, living artists, captured and presented alongside the world Musikase has built.
mu·si·ka·sefrom omakase, "I'll leave the details to you." A meal where you trust the chef. A band where you trust the curation.
Six original characters with real arcs, and a story told through music, interviews, and the world that grows around them.
An original catalog written to carry the narrative — and to move you entirely on its own.
Sensoria: an immersive music-and-dining room where the whole story surrounds you.
Real, living artists captured and presented alongside the band — the unexpected layer that blends the world with the people in it.
Six members. Three founders. One story that's only just beginning.
The voice and the gravity
Cofounder and front woman. A 24-year-old from Seattle and a Vanderbilt-trained musician with the wildness of Joplin and the wit to match. XC named the band after her college radio show — from omakase, "I'll leave the details to you." Magnetic, ambitious, impossible to look away from, she carries the band's center of gravity wherever it goes.
The veteran with scars to show for it
Founder. Former guitarist of the legendary punk band Raze, seven years sober, and author of the memoir High Above the City. Eddie has lived every cautionary tale in rock and come out the other side — protective, magnetic, sometimes overbearing, and fiercely devoted to the people he believes in. He found XC playing a Raze song in a Seattle basement and called dibs on the spot.
The quiet one who feels everything
Samuel Bird — "Birdy." Cofounder, lyricist, and second voice of Musikase. A 25-year-old folk musician from Nashville with a sonorous Bill Callahan calm, he met XC at open mics and never left her side. Reserved and internal, Birdy speaks loudest through his songs. At every show, between sets, he plays a new one written that day — and the fans in the know hold their breath for it.
The craftsman with his own vision
Keys, and a jazz heart underneath everything Musikase does. A conservatory-trained player with impeccable taste — the kind who reaches for an ondes martenot to make a song ache. Chris has his own creative ambitions and a low tolerance for being told what to play, and he's still carving out the space to do his own thing.
The elder statesman of the kit
Drums, and the steadiest head in the band. A career studio musician before Musikase, Kilroy runs a foundation putting instruments in the hands of kids who couldn't otherwise afford them. He's seen up close what fame does to people — and he's the one keeping his own counsel while the storm gathers around the others.
Pure joy, plugged in
Bass — "Beth" — and the most fun person in any room she's in. She plays loud, laughs louder, and, unlike most of the band, will happily admit she loves the attention. The low end and the high spirits of Musikase, all at once.
Songwriter & Chief Storyteller, Musikase
J. Barufka is a writer and educator based in Brooklyn, New York. She holds a BA in creative writing from Columbia University and is currently pursuing an MFA in fiction at the University of Michigan. She has worked as an editorial assistant, a children’s literature specialist, and a literacy tutor. Storytelling and music have been an intertwined passion for J. since childhood. Growing up in Northern Virginia, she began writing fiction and playing musical instruments at the age of 7. Her love of music (including music history and culture) was cultivated early by her father, who started taking her to rock concerts at that same young age. J.’s two lifelong passions, fiction and song, now converge in Musikase. As Band Manager, Songwriter, and Chief Storyteller, J. is the creative force behind Musikase, Sensoria’s original band. She composed the band’s catalog of songs and authored the serialized narrative that brings the six fictional band members to life. Watching Musikase’s team of live artists and musicians bring Musikase to life has been the great joy of the project.