Ren Harvieu
Ren Harvieu has battled back from a serious injury to be on the verge of releasing her debut album.
But before we do get to hear her album she is releasing a new single Open Up Your Arms. I caught up with Ren to talk about the album, the accident and what is coming up in the rest of 2012.
- You are about to release your new single Open Up Your Arms so can you tell me a bit about the track?
Yeah sure. I worked on the track with Dave McCabe from The Zutons. It is quite a big song and very different from the debut track Through The Night which is good, so they don’t put me in that Radio 2 file; I love Radio 2 but you know what they are saying when they say that.
So yes it’s very different and it’s kind of an aggressive song. You would think that it was an up-tempo track but when you listen to the lyrics they are very sad and vulnerable, so it’s quite a contrast. So yeah I am excited about it.
- Well I have been listening to some of your tracks and some of them are quite poppy while others are heavily orchestrated song with a rousing chorus so how would you describe the sound of your music?
Well that is a pretty good description. Yeah it’s very cinematic, big and orchestral, that is just something that I have always been in to.
I have always been very interested in big bands and those old Disney scores and Frank Sinatra - I have always been heavily moved by that kind of thing so I wanted it on the record.
- And how do these tracks introduce us to you as an artist?
I want to get my voice across and I would like to get across that I don’t have just one style of singing I can lend it to different styles; it’s not just an album of the run of the mill mid-tempo songs as there is a lot of variation there.
I want to be the kind of artist where you don’t know what to expect, where it’s exciting and fresh.
People say that I do have retro sound, which I do understand, and I went into the studio and I was like ’you can’t sound retro’ (laughs) and it does sound retro. I don’t think it can be helped as my voice is so old sounding. But I am really looking forward to it.
- There is an album just around the corner so what can we expect from it and how do these two tracks prepare us for the rest of the record?
Well I suppose that these two tracks are diverse and that is what you can expect from the rest of the album, it’s not a smooth running kind of thing.
It’s an up and down kind of record that is very diverse, it’s not just Through The Night pop.
- You are also the writer behind the tracks so what do you draw on and what influences when you write?
Any emotion that comes to the surface really strongly I feel compelled to write about, that can be even that I am flying on Saturday and I really don’t want to and I am anxious about it; it doesn’t just have to be that my boyfriend has dumped me boo hoo.
It can be about all manner of things or it can be a feeling of something and I can dress up as if it is a relationship when it is really just me being anxious or angry about something else.
So any of those kind of emotions that come to the surface it’s like ’this is interesting and I am going to try and get this into a song’.
- What does the album say about you as an artist?
I think it shows depth and it’s not just playing safe and I think that it’s quite a mature sound, I am only twenty one and I finished this album when I was twenty.
I think it is quite a bold album to make for a young girl and I think that it shows a maturity, even when I was ten I was about forty mentally; it’s just where I am from and all the kids are like adults (laughs). So yeah I think that shows.
- Last year you had an awful accident so what happened and how tough has the road to recovery been for you?
Well I am still recovering as I still have a crutch. I am not by any means 100% at all and I have got a very long way to go; I do dress it up like everything is fine.
It was a freak accident, it’s hard for me to explain because if people don’t know someone who has been through something like that it’s quite hard for me explain how it was because it was beyond traumatic.
I am still recovering from it and it’s kind of a miracle that I am walking around - I am bored of having a crutch. But I suppose that I have to count my blessings.
- And having battled back from such a serious injury how has your perspective on life and career changed? And how much did music pull you through?
I remember when I was listening to my iPod and the song from MGMT called Electric Feel - I had no movement from the waist down - and I was listening to that really loud and my toes started wiggling to the music.
And that shouldn’t be happening and if your toes are wiggling it’s the most amazing sign ever as it means that the nerves have connected and there’s a chance that you can walk. So I heard that song and my toes started wiggling and that was incredible.
I suppose I have changed perspective as before the accident this career seemed so scary and big and being judged and criticised all the time but now I have gone through this it is all quite futile, it doesn’t matter what anyone thinks of you really.
It’s put this job definitely into perspective and I have learnt to relax about it all, if people think you are shit then they think you are shit.
- You had been posting songs on Facebook before you were signed so what was it like going into the studio for the first time and really recording these tracks?
It was very surreal and scary and it wasn’t a natural thing. I was literally trembling with fear as you go to London and meet all these posh people that are involved with music and it is literally terrifying.
But it was definitely not normal for me but it was thrilling at the same time, yeah.
- There are a lot of rumours flying around at the moment about a possible collaboration with Nas so how did that come about?
His manager wanted him to work with a new artist and he got sent a stack of new artists and he picked me, which was pretty cool.
I met him when I was in America and we just said that we would send each other tracks - we are both busy but he has sent me some thing and I have sent him some stuff as well.
- There are a lot of great female vocalists around at the moment so what sets you apart from the rest?
Don’t know, probably nothing (laughs). We are all the same really it just comes down to what your ears like. Music and singing is so subjective so no one is really better than another because it’s such a subjective thing. So maybe more ears will like my voice, who knows.
- And where are we going to be able to see you live this year?
I have got a tour coming up in April, which is just going all over the shop, so I am really looking forward to that. I am going to be touring for the most of this year.
- Finally what's next for you?
Just gigs, make some more music and have some fun - I really want to have some fun definitely.
FemaleFirst Helen Earnshaw