Volume
1, Issue 3
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EM
Music Jam, Featured Independent Musical Artist |
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Robin
Renée - In Progress |
| Robin
Renée certainly knows how to grab your attention, kick-starting
this release with the rocking, anthemic "Empire." The
Songs offers up a stinging critique of the contemporary sociopolitical
climate and its oppressive effects on the individuals that struggle
within it. Take the character Rebecca, who once "danced
on mountains, knowing everything" but now "dances on
tables/shooting falling stars into her veins." These are
the kind of raw portraits Renée paints, showing her audience
snapshots of life on this (sometimes cruel) planet with a keen
observational eye. |
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33-year-old singer/songwriter/guitarist is a storyteller with
a unique perspective on the "empire" of dominant culture
because she speaks from identities outside of it: Black, bisexual,
female. Renée says she "feels at home" with
those existing outside the prescribed norm, "people who
are asking important questions, be they political, social, sexual,
intellectual or spiritual." The alienation she experienced
growing up helped to foster a more critical and insightful worldview
as well as providing her with the outrage that fuels her songwriting
as well as her activism. Renée devotes tireless hours
to several bisexual advocacy and social groups including as a
regional organizer for BiNet USA (www.binetusa.org) and events
planner for BiZone (www.bizone.org). |
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While
politics and social concern inform her work, Renée is
just as quick to turn her focus inward and invite the listener
on a journey through her personal struggles and past history.
She delves into childhood pain on "Talking to Walls,"
recounting suicidal depression with stark honesty, "Up in
my room I am bleeding on paper/as if my life were vapor disappearing
to air/and I felt culture's cut as I picked up the razor/was
I in a daze or did I cease to be there." Renée poignantly
describes the hurt and denial involved in a relationship when
drug addiction has become the "Silent Partner." Over
the driving guitar, she provides the haunting sentiment "I
act like it's not there/Don't see it and I don't careI hear your
master's voice/It's you and me and the drug of choice" with
a catlike growl.
Lyrically,
Renée constructs narratives and captures emotions with
the folk sensibility of singer-songwriters of the '70's and '80's
such as James Taylor or Joan Armatrading. Not to be pigeonholed,
she shows us her other side, shifting easily from intimate folk-pop
balladry to rock-out tunes with delicious guitar riffs and an
edginess borrowed from Punk and New Wave. Another influence from
that era can be heard on these tracks: David Bowie, who Renée
was inspired by as a teenager, after seeing him perform on television.
She even references him in the song "Lyin' All The Time,"
"pretended I was Ziggy Stardust-I wished that it were true."
Renée takes these ingredients, shakes 'em up, and delivers
the goods with impassioned vocals and a unique, somewhat nasal
intonation reminiscent of Elvis Costello and, at times, she seems
to channel Chrissy Hynnde of The Pretenders.
Renée
exposes both her vulnerabilities and her strengths as she navigates
through a wide range of emotional experience on this 13-track
disc. Note her clever reactions to a man who says "let me
be the brave one/You could walk one step behind" in the
catchy ditty "I Could Love You"; or her brave descriptions
of overcoming adversity throughout ("but now the scars are
healed"-Silent Partner, "so I throw on my bathrobe
and I cast off my rage" -Talking To Walls). It's
clear that Robin Renée is going to continue to tell it
like it is and she's not holding back, "For me, the essence
of feminism is to grow and live in one's fullness without shrinking
to a diminished version of oneself to be more acceptable by anyone
else's standards."
Renée
song, The Beginning, is EM's download pick for this issue:
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Renée
starts out slow and tentative, communicating the fear-ridden,
compelling nature of trusting and of falling in love, "When
I'm alone I hold my hand/When I'm with you do you understand?/When
I fall in love is there no net below/Will these feelings follow
me wherever I go?" The instrumentals swell and carry us
along for the ride as she questions
if love will remain or leave, yet again, "When I break down
is there a room I can bounce in?/And when I find youth can I
drink from the fountain?/When I get tired is there a pillow for
me?/And when I am free am I just in chains I can't see?"
The
emotion builds to a crescendo as Renée cries, "And
oh- I feel the edge of these years/And sometimes the questions
just bring me to tears/But I feel alive every moment of everyday/Just
living for asking and living to know the way."
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In
the end, and very indicative of Renée's spirit, optimism
and gratitude win out over fear of loss.
Overall,
this release is a good batch of emotionally-driven songs with
solid guitar work, and this style-merging talent leaves the listener
with the unmistakable impression that she's a fiercely independent
woman who's ready to rise to any challenge. If this is Robin
Renée In Progress, I can't wait to see what she
has in store next.
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To
download a zipped file of Robin's excellent song, The Beginning
(in mp3 format), click here.
Check
out some of Robin Renée's downloads at MP3.com.
To purchase her CD, and for more pictures and information, visit
Renée's web site at: http://www.robinrenee.com/.
If
you don't have WinAmp, the best way to listen to MP3s, click
here
to download this free program.
Erica Werpetinski is
a staff writer for Expository Magazine.
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Copyright
© 2001 Expository
Magazine and/or the respective author/artist. Photos Copyright
© Paris L. Gray
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