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Music

The best kept secret in music

Press


"Reyn"

Here's Paul Sanchez finding warmth in home recording technology, making what amounts to a bedroom version of Apostle of Hustle—balmy, tropical indie rock for lovers and thinkers.
The 12 song Reyn [album] also brings to mind Sam Roberts’ debut EP ‘The Inhuman Condition’, with its jangly, bongo beat. These folk forays are like summer anthems, loaded with good vibes and beach memories.
There’s an instant energy from the live-to-hard-drive recording style: you wouldn’t know Sanchez (guitar/vox/percussion) just called up the sitar on 'Pick You Up', because it sounds so full.
The former Exile In Return front man is good at simmering bits of folk, rock, funk and daydream pop into a hushed beat. It’s the perfect backdrop for his sleepy-reggae vocal. Watch out for Reyn.

By Fateema Sayani
- Ottawa Citizen (Feb 10 2007)


"Reyn Man"

Paul Sanchez is going solo. The former Exile in Return vocalist/guitarist/djembe player is now called Reyn. EIR fans will recognize the "modern hippie" rock of Reyn, as Sanchez, composed all the old band's tunes. He performs at the Rock 'n' Roll Revival, an occasional new music and art series that takes place at different clubs. Oraganizer Richard Tyo says the event is about awareness.

Shows are tied to a theme, such as mental health. RRR began in August 2006, with a show held for the youth homelessness organization Operation Go Home.

Sanchez, a philosophy student at Carleton University, squeezes weighty thoughts into song. 'Comfort Cage' is about the beleifs and desires that trap us. Sanchez records at home on a computer, playing guitar and percussion, then adding the sitar using music software. The live show is stripped back, but made warm by Sanchez's folk-fired voice.
- Ottawa Citizen (Jan 18 2007)


"Bittersweet Changes"

Exile in Return likes to bust out the jams and ditch the set list when they perform -- it gives the four-piece a "pure sound" that's "for the people," and "from the soul" says John-Paul Sanchez, the earnest vocalist, guitarist and djembe player whose smooth voice gives the band its distinction, along with all that hippie talk. Think of Sam Roberts before all the producers and you can get excited about the Ottawa band.
Sanchez, along with Peter Wahl (guitar), Dave Hawley (bass) and Andrew Black (drums), sings about life, gathering fragmented but weighty thoughts along the way and squeezing them into a song. The Carleton University philosophy student says lately he's been feeling the weight of time.
"I watch people grow old, people leave and change," he says shyly. "It's the way life progresses." Inevitably, when people move in and out of your life, the feeling is bittersweet.
"It's beautiful and sad at the same time."
That's the theme from Beautiful Sadness, the in-progress album that the band has been grinding away at for the past year. Other songs deal with Sanchez's transitions. He moved around Southern Ontario and the United States before settling in Ottawa with his family. He traded in his dirt bike, and the bad buddies that came with it, for a guitar and a new frame of mind.
"I got into a whole new thing -- empathy. That's a new term for me," he says. "It's all about stepping away from yourself and putting yourself in someone's shoes."
While his heart is open to creating that pure, soulful sound, as a player, Sanchez is fixated on his instrument. "The guitar is like a samurai sword. I try to get all I can out of it to unlock its secrets."
- Ottawa Citizen (June 1 2006)


Discography

reyn (self titled)

-12 song album
-released to 29 Canadian college radio stations
-Available at 'The Electric Gallery' (www.theelectricgallery.ca) and 'CD Baby'

Photos

Feeling a bit camera shy

Bio

Front man Paul Sanchez sings about life, gathering fragmented but weighty thoughts along the way and squeezing them into a song. Other songs deal with his transitions. He moved around Southern Ontario and the Untied States before settling in Ottawa with his family.

While his heart is open to creating that pure, soulful sound, as a player, Sanchez is fixated on his instrument. He says “the guitar is like a samurai sword. I try to get all I can out of it to unlock its secrets.”

Reyn was hired in 2005 to compose and produce music for a video at CIMS (Carleton Immersive Media Systems). Reyn also composed music for a video project for Ottawa University.

**Also see PRESS**