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| Show some emotion Bisexual activist Robin Renée makes Progress as a musician By ERNIE GLAM When a friend once told singer-songwriter Robin Renée that he didn,t wear sweaters, she was so intrigued and puzzled by the statement that it moved her to ponder the reasons in a song. "I found it really surprising to limit myself that way," says the 33-year-old acoustic guitarist. "Especially something inexplicable like that." Beguiled by that strange fashion phobia, Renée eventually transformed the sartorial aversion into a metaphor for coming of age and coming to terms with emotions, a theme that predominates many songs on her debut solo CD In Progress. The 13-track album plumbs a landscape of emotions and desires, which Renée says chronicle her own growth through early adulthood. A resident and native of Atco, New Jersey, Renée was taught to play classical piano as a child. She made the switch later in life to guitar because the instrument was more portable for live performance. A biochemistry and later an English student at Rutgers University, Renée got her first taste of live gigs in the New Brunswick rock scene. After college she found herself back in Atco, which is near Philadelphia, yet she doesn,t consider herself part of the Philly scene. "I don,t feel like I,m in any clique," she says. Renée is influenced by singer-songwriters of the 70s and 80s, such as Jackson Browne, Warren Zevon, and Elvis Costello. The latter seems particularly significant, because at times her signing takes on a nasal intonation reflecting, but not similar to, Costello,s in the late 70s. Renée dwells in a soft pop rock tradition, and her sound is sometimes similar to Ani DiFranco or, at other times, The Motels. "I,ve never purposefully copied anyone, but I,ve heard from people that the influence comes out in ways I don,t realize," she says. Love is a constant theme in her compositions, but Renée does not write love songs. "I write about the intricacies of love," she says. "I like taking snapshots of emotions that are hard to descirbe." Many of In Progress, songs focus on emotions, some pretty, others not. On "Talking to Walls," Renée recalls shedding tears of anger and depression. The song,s best line sums up that point in nascent middle age when an angry young woman finally mellows: "So I throw on my bathrobe and I cast off my rage." Renée can,t specify where her anger sprang from, however, except attributing it to a general feeling of alienation as a child. "I guess I felt like a misfit. Being a black, female, bisexual, and creative person, you can feel that you,re totally isolated in any of those circumstances," she says. When Renée isn,t busy with her musical career which is successful enough to liberate her from the constraints of having a day job she,s busy as an activist with several local and national bisexual advocacy and social groups. As a regional organizer for BiNet USA (www.binetusa.org) and primary events planner for BiZone (www.bizone.org), she works to provide social and support networks for bisexuals in southern New Jersey. "We try to explode the stereotype that we need to choose camps," she says. "A lot of times we,re invisible because if we identify with one group or another, we,re seen as part of that group." While noting that many of her performances are for predominantly "queer audiences," Renée says she won,t make activism part of her upcoming New York show. Instead, she,ll just focus on the music itself; without an accompanying band, the songs from In Progress will be pared to their essential core. "The songs will sound differently," she says, "but it,s my music distilled to its essence." Robin Renée will perform on Thursday, July 6, at 8 p.m. at the Indiegrrl Showcase at SUN Music Company, 340 E. 71st St. Admission is $10. For more information, go to http://www.robinrenee.com. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Copyright © 1999 New York Blade News, Inc. This article appeared in the issue of: June 30, 2000 |
