Melodic melancholy
With a name like Renspitsatmagpies you could well be mistaken for expecting the brash sound of frustrated angst penetrating uninvited through your ear canal. The reality is that what you do receive is a gift of something truly beautiful. Ren Aldridge may well take umbrage towards the thieving black & white birds, and may possibly go as far as hocking a loogie at the aforementioned feathered fiends, but what is certain is that the two songs here that I have discovered have allowed me to forgive her these actions to which she seems proud of.
Ren sings with a hint of melancholy in a voice, that drips of the blues and pools on the floor like the bloodstains of experience. Mixing up some traditional song lyrics with a slow and almost mournful guitar strum, It's You falls somewhere between a lullaby and a ballad. The additional bass gives the song a nice depth, whilst the harmonies enhance it and give it a sound that is less lonesome.
The second song is Puppets that has a slightly more upbeat feel to it, with a guitar melody the takes you on a journey whilst the vocals float over like thoughts in the wind. Ren shows us a glimpse of her social stance as she raises her fist to declare, "Long nights and longer days // We dreamt of anarchy // but how can we win // they invented debt and sin // To make us feel afraid".
Renspitsatmagpies sings lovely vocals over some nice simple music. Whilst these two are great songs the danger maybe to have a full album of them, let us not underestimate how fickle music-listeners can be. This style is, however, certainly a strength, and with a couple of songs that spin another dimension (like Ren's other musical venture in the band Feralus), then this could well produce an intriguing musical delight. Watch this space...and try to ignore the magpies.