The Regeneration— At West End Gallery
My hand does the work and I don’t have to think; in fact, were I to think, it would stop the flow. It’s like a dam in the brain that bursts.
—Edna O’Brien, The New York Times (1984)
Still suffering the combined effects of the covid/cancer tag team, especially the fatigue. Not looking forward to the radiation beginning in the next couple of weeks that will no doubt increase it. Work is going slow as a result. Getting some done but at a snail’s pace or so it seems. Too slow for me to find my flow. When it’s there it is much like author Edna O’Brien describes above– a dam bursting and running wild without thought and finding its own direction in the flow.
I have been trying to rediscover that flow in a number of ways. Mainly music in different genres and forms. Stuff out of my range. This brought me recently to the Wales-born artist Ren. He’s been on my radar for several years, often showing up on my feed. I never clicked on any of his videos nor tried to listen to it, writing him off as just another rapper. Not that that is a bad thing in itself. There are a lot of rap artists that produce great music. Just not my bag.
I finally decided to give his work a chance, even if it turned out to be one listen or view. At least I could say I knew his work a bit.
I found myself wandering in a deep and twisting rabbit hole. It moves in all directions, up and down and forward and backward. It is sometimes raw and rough and sometimes smooth and graceful. There is raw emotion, extreme musicality, lyrics that display a deep and agile mind, impeccable instincts in the musical and visual decisions he makes, and a world view with an emphasis on love, hope, and empathy. He has a geniality that feels always authentic and infectious.
I keep waiting to be disappointed with every new video, song, or performance I come across. Or at least to be able to pin him down and attach a label, as much as I hate to do that with anyone. But I have yet to be disappointed in anything to which he attaches himself, from his street busking days with his Brighton-based band, The Big Push, to his more recent videos that are nothing short of brilliant in their storytelling, cinematography, messaging, and artistry.
As a whole, it feels like a pure expression of art to me. And that’s a rare and wonderful thing to find in anyone’s work. Part of that comes from the fact that he is totally independent with his work, eschewing the restrictions of record companies that would seek to narrow his scope and put a label on him.
And that would be great shame. A loss. There is no one label to attach to his work or his vision. It just flows, no matter where he finds himself musically. And that is what drives my current obsession with his work. I am always seeking for a hint of where the limits of his mind might end or even begin. Or to phrase that differently, what drives his thought process.
What feeds his flow? That is the question that looms large in my mind right now. It’s like searching his work for some sort of key that will unlock my own doors, one that will break my dam open and let my own mind flow free.
And it does feel like it is guiding me to that key in some way. Unexpectedly.
And that’s the way in inspiration usually appears. You know something is missing and you search for it in all the places where you have found it in the past. And it’s not in those places. Then just when you’re frustrated and sick of looking for it, you open a drawer where you are sure it will not be and, lo and behold, it is there.
I don’t usually gush about my favorites here and there is a lot more to say about his background, which informs his messaging to a large degree. But I am going to leave it here and simply share a video of his for this Sunday Morning Music that demonstrates some of his unpredictable range and his performance skills. It is a cover of a dance music hit from the group Jungle, Back on 74, combined with Message in a Bottle from The Police. His covers always feel reinterpreted and enhanced in a very special way. This is a one-take performance, something for which he is known.
I picked this song not because it is representative of his body of work. It is not. I chose it mainly because I have been waking up with this song in my head recently. Sometimes that can be irritating. This has not been.
Pretty chill way to wake up in pretty unchill times.
Redtree Times 
Well. I was introduced to Ren by “Hi Ren” — the video that shows him rapping in hospital gown and wheelchair. I thought it was one of the weirdest things I’d ever seen and couldn’t figure out why everyone was raving about him; I never listened to him again. I did enjoy this, and might explore his work a bit more, although I noticed your comment that this isn’t necessarily representative of his body of work. Still, this is good Sunday morning music.
I understand that “Hi Ren’ could be a tough introduction to his music as it deals directly with the illness– autoimmune and mental health issues brought on by Lyme Disease– that had plagued him for over a decade of his young life. If subsequent videos had echoed that video I might have stopped listening and watching. But it seemed that every video I clicked on offered something totally new, each expanding his scope of expression. Even his straight rap videos are fascinating and intellectually stimulating in surprising ways And that comes from someone who feels like an alien in the rap landscape. Don’t know the language or the customs. His storytelling and performance in some of his original videos is extraordinary, almost always done as one-shot takes without cuts. But it is the speed and breadth of his thinking that intrigue me most. He’s riding this huge wave of potential right now and it will be interesting to see how well he can ride it. Hopefully he won’t crash out as so many other super-talented folks have done before. Here’s charming song from his days with the Big Push that I think you will like. It’s a cover of song called Bongo Bong: