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PGN October
18 - 24, 2002, Volume 26, Issue 42
All
of her
Robin
Renée uses 'All Six Senses'
By Kevin Riordan
PGN Contributing Writer
© 2002 Kevin Riordan
Robin Renée didn't set out to compose an album about spiritual
awakenings.
But over time, the songs she wrote for her new CD, "All
Six Senses" (Menage a Music Records), began to tell a story.
Themes emerged. And later, a title. 'All Six Senses' is about
wanting someone and something in every conceivable way,"
the bisexual musician and poet said recently from her home in
Waterford Township, N.J.
"It's about being all of ourselves."
After touring for more than a year to promote her debut disc,
"In Progress" - a tour that included a stop at a gay
Kansas City club whose patrons expected dance music - Renee was
ready to record her new songs. She hooked up with producer Scott
Mathews, a veteran who's worked with everyone from George Harrison
to Elvis Costello - one of her idols.
"The amazing thing is, [the music on the record] is just
the two of us," Renee said. "Scott and I had a great
connection. He really understood what I was trying to achieve."
Mathews has, indeed, crafted a savvy showcase for Renee's eclectic
tunes. From the haunting "I Skate Alone" to the jaunty,
Costello-esque "Thursday Morning Afterglow," from the
country-ish "I'm Coming Down" to the peppy "First
Sight," the dozen songs on the CD - all originals, except
for a lovely cover of Nick Lowe's "Cruel to be Kind"
- defy categories.
"All Six Senses" also is suffused with spirituality;
several songs feature a type of Hindu devotional chanting known
as Kirtan.
"I find a real power in the chanting," Renee said.
"It just really, really moves me. It's becoming a primary
spiritual vehicle for me.
"The new record is a lot more about merging with God
or Goddess," she continued. "It's more about love and
its complexities. It's happier. It's less about frustration."
It's also more "out."
Consider "My Bride." In this song about a bride both
female and male - a bride who "fixes his stockings/beneath
the gown that he bought and I see for the first time today"
- Renee creates a resonant image of all-embracing desire.
As a bisexual African-American woman whose music is more rock
'n' roll than soul, and whose sound is edgier than much singer/songwriter
fare, Renee is accustomed to being misunderstood.
"Some people do, and some don't, get me," she observed.
"People who are listeners, and like lyrics, like my work."
While Renée enjoys performing solo, she's looking to put
together a band. And her spiritual growth has been accompanied
by a growing self-confidence.
"One thing I'm trying to do is to not be intimidated,"
this one-of-a-kind artist declared. "I need to be the best
Robin Renee I can be."
- Kevin Riordan is a New Jersey journalist.
Information
"All Six Senses," which has broken Outvoice's Top 10
online chart, is available at Web sites: http://www.robinrenee.com or http://www.CDBaby.com
Robin Renée will serve
as the entertainment coordinator at BiZone's "Endless Possibilities"
conference set for Nov. 15-17 at Princeton University. "Endless
Possibilities" is a regional conference for bisexuals, their
partners, bi-curious and bi-friendly people, and gay, lesbian,
straight, polyamorous, intersexed and transgendered allies.
For more information, see Web site: http://www.bizone.org/con2002
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