renfro

Music:

Member Since: 9/30/2005
Band Members:
Influences:
Susanna and The Magical Orchestra - Midlake - Paul Wirkus - Elizabeth Fraser - Jan Jelinek - Low - Juana Molina - Iron and Wine - Colleen - Joan As Policewoman - Fennesz - Laura Nyro - Jon Hassell - Robert Wyatt - Joanna Newsom - Oval - Phoenix - Barbara Morgenstern - St. Vincent - Kate Bush - Eliane Radigue - Thom Yorke - Henryk Mikolaj Górecki - Smokey Robinson - Arvo Pärt - Kraftwerk - Mathematiques Modernes - Bjork - Igor Stravinsky - Matmos - Nico - The Books - Crosby, Stills & Nash - AGF - Deathprod - The Cinematic Orchestra - Samadhisound - Colder - Spacek - Aqualung - Laurie Anderson - Animal Collective - Rickie Lee Jones - Tod Dockstader - Broadcast - Kings of Convenience - M83 - Jean-Marc WEBER - King Creosote - William Basinski - Mark Hollis - Radian - John Taverner - Adem - Lali Puna - Holger Czukay - Dntel - Scritti Politti - Craig Armstrong -
Bela Tarr - Stanley Kubrick - Werner Herzog - Guy Maddin - David Lynch - Jim Jarmusch - Krzysztof Kieslowski - Alfred Hitchcock - Michelangelo Antonioni - Alain Resnais - Joel Coen - Andrei Tarkovsky - Terry Gilliam - Gus Van Sant - Ilya Khrzhanovsky - Billy Wilder - Godfrey Reggio
David Foster Wallace - Thomas Pynchon - George Saunders - W. G. Sebald - Don DeLillo - Michel Tournier - Laura Albert/J.T. LeRoy - Rick Bass - Cormac McCarthy - Bruce Chatwin - Stephen Millhauser - Chris Bachelder - John Banville - Colson Whitehead - J.M. Coetzee - William Goyen
Sounds Like: "A collection of discoveries and manipulations that create a collage of sounds that delicately encases the listener. Renfro meld eclectic elements that produce dreamy, serene down-tempo with a multitude of components to absorb. The result is seemingly complex and layered sounds that also have simplicity. One spin of the album offers an airy, atmospheric vibe but subsequent listens have you deconstructing each individual noise, glitch and blip....comparable to the more subtle elements used on Thom Yorke’s solo release, "The Eraser". Combine that with the gentle vocals of Branney and you have distinctive, innovative, serene electronic music that explores the poetic." (Ashley Hampson in Exclaim! Magazine )
“Delicately bruised sensitive signatures coaxed to life by twinklesome snow-globe affected electronics and softly sighed deliveries... sweetly beguiling yet hurting and distant. Arrestingly fragile....is going to break a fair few hearts once it escapes on to the more clued up hi-fi’s of the record buying community” ( The Sunday Experience blog )
“Wow. Brilliant f***ing songs” ( Kramer - producer of Low, Dot Allison, Galaxie 500 etc.)
“A wonderful world of music...magical....amazing sounds” (Transform @ Global Vortex Radio )
“Really amazing stuff... like Murcof with vocals, amazing vocals at that” ( Araya )
“Amazing - like Sigur Ros meeting the Postal Service and everything working out just fine” ( CombatDave )
"Atom and Tim make the kind of music that makes a lot of sense under the stars or under silky eiderdown. Coming on like a comedown, renfro are very chilled out. Gentle hushed vocals breathe out over "pops, fizzes and clicks."The backbeat sometimes sounds like a malfunctioning dolphin and sometimes like chinking, chiming broken glass. The atmosphere created sounds like a church from the future, all hushed reverence and neutral hues - it's all very lovely. Renfro make beautiful sombre sounds, perfect for chilling out to with a mug of tea and a duvet." (James Lawrenson - clickmusic.com )
“Music so great that I can't stop listening!” (AftervisionProject - SoFarUnknown.Records )
“So achingly beautiful - the words, the minimalism, glitches, blips are pieced into perfect euphony” ( Jean Sunwoo )
“Fantastic. The lyrics are intelligent and interesting, the samples are clever and original, and the vocals are haunting and sweet. No doubt renfro will be a household name in time.” (bug @ UNEQProductions.com )
“Your music really touched my heart deeply” ( Ultimae Records )
“I really love your stuff” ( Kate Havnevik - Universal Records USA)
“Amazing - 'Illuminations' has to be the most intricately-lushly, beautiful piece of music I've heard in ages, absolutely gorgeous and emotional.” ( Chloë March , Powderkeg Records)
"Describing themselves as “A kind of electronic-alternative-gospel-folk for the 21st Century” are Renfro, a highly creative duo comprised of Atom James and Tim Branney. Their recent EP, Broken Little Pieces, was made by recording sounds ranging from the barking of elephant seals on the California coast to those made by the burning of a credit card and mixing them with serene electronica and eloquent lyrics. If you can get your hands of the four track EP, you will doubtlessly find yourself playing it over and over again trying to absorb all of the delicate nuances that make up the many layers of their sound. And as peculiar as these elements may seem, it all comes together quite smoothly to create some brilliant and original songs.
The title track, 'Broken Little Pieces', is very much characteristic of their unique sound, using a recording of a NASA shuttle take-off for the opening, a distorted shortwave radio signal for the irresistible percussion, and a background atmosphere created from a live-feed of deep space. The truly remarkable part is that you would never guess the source of their sound. You do not feel like you are listening to a rocket take off or a radio crackle. What you get is high quality music with an extremely fresh feel to it. With all the effort that renfro put into coming up with new sounds, it is impressive that lyrics are as interesting and complex as they are.
On top of this, Branney offers vocals that are incredibly gentle, and perfectly suit the thoughtful lyrics and dreamy electronica. At times the vocals can take on the flow of a slow R&B love song punctually interspersed with the quirky samples. One might compare them to a sample–rich merger of Low and Portishead, but that would not do justice to the distinctive sound that renfro have created for themselves." ( YME.COM )
Type of Label: None