"Lovers", an open letter by Deniz Reno
On Tuesday, August 4th I released my new electronic pop album EP LOVERS via my label Taksu Records. This record is a perfect blend of myth and true story rooted in the past four years of my life. I wrote LOVERS to shed light on different sides of love and human relationships, from legend to infatuation, from falling in love to experiencing betrayal and loss. Here you will find everything. Each song on this album explores a different angle of a state of being we can all probably relate to. I dedicated this new record to all the lovers.
In December of 2018, after the release of my debut solo album EP Narcissus I started writing ‘Siren’s Song’, the opening track to LOVERS. As far as themes go, I had no idea what direction I was really going in. I had taken a two year hiatus from writing solo material, following the death of my fiance. I had avoided working on anything that would force me to go deep into my emotions and even then I wasn’t sure if the new record was going to address anything of the sort. ’Siren’s Song’ seemed like a safe entry back into the world of creativity. It was inspired by an Australian Netflix series ’Tidelands’, a fantasy drama about a fictional oceanside town where sailors go missing at sea, lured by the song of sirens (mermaid creatures from Greek mythology). The show became my guilty pleasure and I quickly fell in love with the soundtrack, curated by music supervisor Lynn Fainchtein. I was about halfway through the series when I was inspired to write ‘Siren’s Song’, my imagined theme song for the show. Even though the series were built around these mythical creatures, the audience never actually got to see one until the last minutes of the very last episode, and you never heard from them directly. I wrote 'Siren’s Song' from the perspective of the mother siren. What tale would she have shared if she were to speak … or sing? I took the rough acoustic guitar version of the song I finished that evening to my producer Mike Schlosser and a few days later and we recorded the studio version of Siren’s, on December 31st, appropriately marking the last day of one of the most artistically gratifying and successful years of my life.
A few days later, I sat down at my piano and meditated on what would come next. I knew that I wanted to write four more songs and make the next record an EP. I get this question often so I will clarify that and EP is a short album format consisting of 3 to 6 songs. As I sat at the piano that week, lyrics started pouring out of me. A couple of ideas dove head first into the subject matter I had been consciously trying to avoid, the tragic love story I had lived two years earlier. I think a part of me had decided it was time. The two most personal songs which ended up on the record are “Brightest” and ‘Lovers (Crash & Burn)’. ‘Brightest’ was the first single I released off the record, back in January. I collaborated with thread. on an open letter adressing the subject matter behind the song, which was essentially that of my personal love and loss. ‘Lovers (Crash & Burn) became a look at happier times, when Graham and I had first fallen for one another. It became a Bonnie and Clyde-esque anthem for adrenalin filled reckless love I think many can relate to. I understood there and then that the time to fully process those experiences had come and writing and recording those two songs became both a difficult and very joyful cathartic experience. Call it a ‘collateral beauty’ journey of sorts.
‘Forbidden Fruit’, which became my second single was a creative hybrid of two songs I had written in 2016 for my Barcelona based band project ‘Noise Revolution’. The song touches upon the themes of passion, sexuality and infatuation. I wanted to create something steamy and memorable, a different, hotter side of love. ‘Pirates’ was inspired by my own experiences as well as the experiences of my friends who have known the heartache of being taken for granted in relationships. The song is about taking a stand in your value and refusing to fall prey to emotional pirates.
The ‘LOVERS” record was produced over a period of three weeks, right before I left for Japan and Bali. I took the acoustic songs to my go-to music man, Juno Award nominated producer extraordinaire Mike Schlosser and he turned the acoustic versions of these songs into studio magic, creating worlds out of sound and making every single shine in its own right. It was probably the most flow I have experienced in a creative process, recording music to date. It was wintertime and while the streets of Toronto were covered in falling snow, Mike and I sat in a recording studio on King St. East and created magic. Every evening I would take extra long walks downtown on my way home to listen to the day’s tapes and just bask in gratitude for what this record was becoming.
Artwork: Deniz Reno
When the record was complete I decided to illustrate the cover art for every single including the final album artwork. All my life my two worlds and passion, music and art have largely been separate. I would work on film sets as a scenic artist and sculptor and balance this with living life in studios and on stage. I wanted to blend my two loves into one on this record, and so I spent dozens of hours drawing on my iPad in a great little app for digital artists called Procreate. When it was time to envision the artwork for the album EP itself I meditated on the idea of how I could present love as being universal and for everyone, regardless of color, creed or orientation. It was really important for me to express that the songs on this record deal with themes that are in many ways relatable to anyone who has ever experienced the vast spectrum of love, from infatuation to loss. The cover art ended up being filled with the hands of interracial couples fused together to form heart shapes. I filled the hearts with the colors of the rainbow, representative to me of all the different shades of love and also as my way of paying homage to the pride flag. I feel that the artwork for this album fully represents my stance on love. Love is love. It’s for everyone who has the courage to dive deep into its ever shifting waters. It’s all inclusive, just as I would like my music and art to always be.
I hope you enjoy the record. Creating it was an absolute joy.
- Deniz