The Renfields are not The Beatles. The Renfields are The Renfields.
In reviews and online, other listeners seem to be fixated on the notion that this record sounds like a Beatles record. It doesn’t. I’ve listened from start to finish at least 12 times and, though the initial perception starts to form that Beatles taste in your mouth, you end up biting into something else entirely. If one must compare to other artists, it’s more like Nick Drake or Richard Thompson with Mick Ronson and David Gilmour teaching a lesson or two. But really what you’re being served is unquestionably Nick Westra and the rest of The Renfields. It sounds like Nick Westra. It sounds like The Renfields.
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I’m friends with these guys and have followed Nick’s work for the better part of the last decade or more. This self-titled record is a debut recording of the live band that performs as The Renfields; previous recordings were mainly Nick Westra solo projects using that moniker. The LP itself is a beautifully packaged, gatefold sleeve complete with lyrics and whimsical images of the band. It looks like what an LP should look like. Plus 180 gram vinyl. Anyway, to the music. There is not a misplaced note, sound, drone, buzz, vocal, reverberation or tone on this record. Westra and mates spent two years recording this album in Westra’s basement ultimately being mixed by A.J. Mogis and mastered by Doug Van Sloan. The record starts and ends with the sweet (though perhaps sarcastic? ironic?), light pop tunes “Optimism” and “SPF15,” respectively, fitting bookends to a record filled with brooding laments (“Inside Out” and “Just You Wait”) and hard-driving modern rock gems (“The Recitative” and “Reeler than Warhol”). The band is just showing off with the side two opener, “La Villa de Miguel de Cervantes.” And now, words that I never thought I’d recite in my life: My favorite song on the album has a flute solo. Titled “Philien II,” the song demonstrates Westra’s songwriting at its best. |
The Renfields: Jarek Olivetti on vocal, guitar and percussion (Blane, Christina’s Potato Funk, Crush The Clown, The Semrad Brothers, Takers) Malcom Miles on vocal, bass and trumpet (The Degobah System) Brandon McKenzie (Electrolite, The Living Dolls, The Golden Age) |
Sparing no expense in production, recording and release, The Renfields have clearly put out their dream record. We are lucky for that.
Mark Bestul is a Hear Nebraska contributor. Thanks to Dan Jenkins for sending him our way. Reach Mark at mbestul@inebraska.com.