Renny Field
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Renny Field

Band Folk Singer/Songwriter

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Music

The best kept secret in music

Press


"Live Review"

It was obvious though that for all their intense chatter, this was very much a Renny Field audience, and he proved himself more than capable of working with them with as much deft professional ease as an artist with a decade more experience than he has accumulated to date. Field might only have been writing and performing three years or so now, but the depth of craft in his writing and skill in his performance is extraordinary.

Moving between piano and guitar, either alone, with his band, or with a guest cellist, his set was the perfect mix of ballads, pop and rockers, his sense of dynamics faultless. The set also mixed in a lot more tracks from his debut album, Make Believe, than you might have expected at a launch for his second, 26 Reasons, but it all worked seamlessly, which makes picking a highlight pretty difficult. And yes, there were moments where Field's performance couldn't help but recall the pop piano players of the past, whether Peter Allen or Elton John or Billy Joel, but those moments never tipped over into cliche or excess. Its just inevitable. After all, those guys had such a big impact on the form. But theres enough indie savvy and simple openness in Field's take on the whole thing to make it his own. And this is just the beginning. - Drum Media


"Album Review - 26 Reasons"

26 Reasons is the second album from Australian singer-songwriter Renny Field. His debut album, Make Believe, released in December 2003, received warm reviews and he has played to appreciative audiences in Oz and overseas.

Although 26 Reasons didn’t grab me immediately it is certainly a grower. Opening track Finding Solace is a well paced slice of folk pop. Gravity sports a finger clicking laid-back groove. The piano-led What More Can I Do is a lighter-held-in-the-air big ballad. The rollicking and up-tempo Showbiz would fit well into one of those classic Hollywood musicals or a glitzy Broadway stage production. Renny’s voice is at its best here as it is particularly robust and intense and he sounds like he is having a hell of a lot of fun. The dynamic Hold On is reminiscent of Coldplay. I love the poetic One More Song which Renny dedicates to “my friends at the Brass Monkey”. The pub is closing and the muso needs to say farewell yet he feels a burning desire to remain for it is through performance that he can momentarily “forget about life”. You can almost smell the spilt beer as the ache of late-night weariness is eased by the inviting warmth of the bar that has become a home-away-from-home.

Now that I have enjoyed that so much it’s time to play the whole album again because as I said it really is a grower, a work rich in depths and textures that are revealed and amplified by repeated listens. - Beat Magazine


"Album Review - Make Believe"

A piano man not burdening his songs with too many flourishes, an acoustic guitarist who strums with quiet intensity, Sydney-based singer songwriter Renny Field certainly has the passion to develop a following among those readers who have picked up on the likes of David Gray, whom he cites as one of his influences, and as good a reference point as any for the kind of rock/pop ballad he presents on his debut album.

The more traditional kind of piano man comes to the fore on the title track, matching the suitably cutting observations on the “bright young things about town” with a number of different “movements” in a sort of sub-Joel kind of way, but, as I’ve already suggested, without becoming pompous or overblown in the process, something a major label and big time studio and producer could easily do, such is the song’s potential in terms of Drama. Similarly, there’s something of the early Elton John (the best stuff) on the gently uplifting Why are you waiting and All I’ve Needed, just a voice and a piano, beautifully effective and affecting.

There’s also a hint of your Coldplays in tracks like Finding Solace and Fighting Against the Wind, where Field is strumming that acoustic and delivering his lyrics with a palpable vulnerability against the spare rhythm section of brother Matt on drums and bass and electric guitar player Jason Mannell. By contrast the straightforward rock of Running Around and Man on the Stage suggests to me Field is better off developing the more plaintive aspects of his songwriting, as he does on the second half of the latter.

In fact, Field tends to be most effective on this record when it’s all stripped back to just his voice and a piano, as on Why are you Waiting, or acoustic, as on the first half of Human Touch. That’s not to say he should lose the rhythm section. Rather I’m saying the songs are strong enough anyway, so maybe with a decent budget he could explore some richer sounds on his next outing, strings for instance. Either way, Make Believe is a solid introduction to a local singer songwriter with enormous potential. - Drum Media


Discography

LP - "26 Reasons" - June 2005.
LP - "Make Believe" - Dec 2003

Compilation CD - "The Sounds of Manchester Lane" - Aug 2006.

Compilation - "Sounds Like Cafe" Volume 7 - July 2005.

Radio airplay on Triple J, Fbi Sydney, RRR Melbourne, ZZZ Brisbane, Hot Tomato Gold Coast, XM Unsigned Digital Radio USA + other community stations around Australia. Both albums were distributed to over 60 community stations nationally.

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Bio

“The depth of craft in his writing and skill in his performance is extraordinary ”
Michael Smith - The Drum Media – Album launch review. June 2005

Presenting his material on both Piano and Acoustic Guitar, emerging young singer-songwriter Renny Field burst on to the Australian music scene with the release of his debut album "Make Believe" in December 2003 and has since racked up over 250 live shows, including supports for Diesel, The Whitlams, Mark Seymour, Lior, Sarah Blasko, Hawksley Workman, Serena Ryder, and Deborah Conway.

June 2005 saw the release of his second full-length album, “26 Reasons”, on the back of which Renny toured extensively up and down the East Coast, both as the headline act and supporting some of Australia’s most impressive talents. A versatile performer, he remains equally adept at presenting his songs either with his full band, or in an intimate solo acoustic setting.

“A work rich in depths and textures that are revealed and amplified by repeated listens”.
Beat Magazine review of “26 Reasons” – July 2005.

Festival highlights include the Cockatoo Island festival 2005, Peats Ridge Festival 2004-5, and a trip to the 2004 Mid-west Music Summit in Indianapolis, USA. Renny has also travelled to Fiji to appear on the Channel 10 reality TV show “The Resort”, and played shows at world-renowned venues abroad including London’s 100 Club and CBGB’s in New York. He continues to remain a regular on the Sydney live music scene, and has earned a reputation as one of the city’s most promising young singer-songwriters.

After a hectic 2005, Renny is using 2006 to develop his repertoire and plan for the release of a third album in early 2007. A two-month excursion to India earlier this year has armed him with a whole host of new material and a fresh approach to his work. The journey is a long one, and he’s enjoying the ride.

“…a local singer-songwriter with enormous potential”
Drum Media - February 2004