"who am I ... you're about to find out"
Out Loud by "dream-fi folk" artist Renée Reed feels like a rush, like running away from something or someone. The urgency within the textured acoustic notes running upward and downward, while layers of sounds drone on, create tension. Reed's voice carried in a wash of reverb is beautiful but has a dark streak running through it. Her vocal aesthetic here, is mysterious. She stands like someone seemingly demure but holding power.
"deep in the corner I tell all your secrets out loud"
"who am I ... you're about to find out"
Out Loud is a provocative piece of indie folk that feels Gothic. It's vague narrative is alluring because it is vague but oh so poetic. It is cliche (and in some ways a little creepy to me) to say that music, that art is in someone's blood but it seems to never be more true than in her case. Just look at an excerpt from her press notes:
Renée Reed was born and raised in south Louisiana, spending countless hours on the knee of her grandfather, the Cajun accordion player Harry Trahan. Her parents Lisa Trahan and Mitch Reed are also known Cajun musicians, while her great-uncle Revon Reed was a folklorist from Mamou, Louisiana, a town with an even thicker history in Cajun music. Renée is currently studying Traditional Music and French at the University of Louisiana-Lafayette, while also working in the Archives of the Center for Louisiana Studies.
While listening to Out Loud I was voraciously googling, searching for the lyrics because what I could pick out of the reverbed vox are so captivating. As with traditional, roots music, oftentimes the fictional stories sometimes meant as parables have personal sides and inspirations (like all stories). Of this song, Reed offers:
"'Out Loud' is about processing and surviving an unhealthy relationship, and the unhealthy relationship such a situation can cause you to have with yourself. It's about overcoming it without engaging in the toxic behaviors you've been subjected to, but instead by embracing and being yourself fully."
I so look forward to steeping myself into more of Renée Reed's stories.
-Robb Donker Curtius
THE FACTS AS WE KNOW THEM:
Renée Reed was born and raised in south Louisiana, spending countless hours on the knee of her grandfather, the Cajun accordion player Harry Trahan. Her parents Lisa Trahan and Mitch Reed are also known Cajun musicians, while her great-uncle, Revon Reed, was a folklorist from Mamou, Louisiana, a town with an even thicker history in Cajun music. She's currently studying Traditional Music and French at the University of Louisiana-Lafayette, while also working in the Archives of the Center for Louisiana Studies.
And while her music is certainly informed by these deep roots, her dark dreamlike folk has more in common with contemporaries like Cate Le Bon and Jessica Pratt. It's also not unlike the intangible magic contained in Mazzy Star's songs. "Out Loud" is the first drop in a deep well of creative talent we're thrilled to share with you.
I so look forward to steeping myself into more of Renée Reed's stories.
-Robb Donker Curtius
THE FACTS AS WE KNOW THEM:
Renée Reed was born and raised in south Louisiana, spending countless hours on the knee of her grandfather, the Cajun accordion player Harry Trahan. Her parents Lisa Trahan and Mitch Reed are also known Cajun musicians, while her great-uncle, Revon Reed, was a folklorist from Mamou, Louisiana, a town with an even thicker history in Cajun music. She's currently studying Traditional Music and French at the University of Louisiana-Lafayette, while also working in the Archives of the Center for Louisiana Studies.
And while her music is certainly informed by these deep roots, her dark dreamlike folk has more in common with contemporaries like Cate Le Bon and Jessica Pratt. It's also not unlike the intangible magic contained in Mazzy Star's songs. "Out Loud" is the first drop in a deep well of creative talent we're thrilled to share with you.
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