Renee Heartfelt "Magdalene" CD
[Limekiln]
I had been looking forward to hearing this band for quite sometime, as they feature former members of Count Me Out, Striking Distance, and Give Up the Ghost, but don't expect hardcore from this one. No, these guys are sort of taking the Walter Schreifels road of moving from hardcore to post-hardcore... and, yes... it's true... there are a lot of similarities to Quicksand here. It's definitely not fair to weigh too heavily on that comparison though, because this is a bit more laidback than most of Quicksand's work. There's a somber emo thing going on, and some of the textures have more of a lush rock thing happening... the opening riff of the EP, for example, sounds a lot like Coldplay. Most of the tracks are built around midpaced tempos with driving rhythms that combine thick chord progressions with melodic surrounding textures and singing that has a little bit of reverb over it. "La Seine" definitely sounds a hell of a lot like something that could've been on Quicksand's "Slip", though... the riffs, the structure, the vocal arrangements... it's definitely leaning in that direction. A damn fine track, too. "The Melodramatic" is a little faster and more "upbeat" in a way, but the chorus definitely kicks in a bit heavier, with some acoustics coming in later. "Windowside" is among the catchier tracks, but it's also a little darker than some of the others, with more spacious riffing and overall room to the sounds. But "Picasso" is definitely my favorite song here (not to mention the longest at nearly six minutes), something about the vocal lines is a bit more emotional and memorable, so it really hits home (and yeah, the noisy/droning lead passage sounds exactly like Quicksand, I can't help but mention it). I think the production sounds really strong. The rhythm section sounds fucking awesome with a really dense and natural drum sound, and basslines that fill out the core of the mix nicely while playing a central role in the compositions. The guitars are heavy without sounding out of place, the vocals sound fine, and overall the mix is balanced and clear. I'm definitely pleased with the sound quality, it works great with this style of music. The layout is fairly minimal, using lots of high contrast stylized graphics with a strict color palette of black, blue, and yellow along with a few black and white photographs. Lyrically the tracks are of course personal and deal with relationships, nondescript hardships, etc. "Wanted to let it go but it just won't die. I sit window side and forget it all. Life moves far too fast into a trap set by best intentions. So rip the floor from underneath my feet. Expectations I can't live up to, problems I can't seem to find a way through..." This is great stuff. I'm trying not to overkill the Quicksand references because there are some different influences at work here, but I would absolutely recommend this to fans of said genre pioneers. This is a great EP and I'm very much looking forward to hearing more from this band. There's not one weak song on this thing. Very cool. (8/10)
Running time - 21:58, Tracks: 5
[Notable tracks: Windowside, La Seine, Picasso]
Renee Heartfelt - http://www.reneeheartfelt.com

This review has been displayed 2040 times.