Music Scene: Meet alt-pop superstar-in-the-making Renforshort
Teenage angst has been a part of rock 'n' roll from the start, even to the point of becoming a cliché. Loud music and pounding rhythms aptly express the natural urge to rebel and somewhat salve those youthful doubts and inhibitions in the clamorous joy of the music.
But Lauren Isenberg has taken that simple foundation and enhanced it to bring it into the current day amid some of the most compelling pop sounds with touches of rock, folk, punk rock and electronica. Isenberg has also written some of the most candid, striking lyrics, sharpening the focus on teen issues, such as anxiety, depression and toxic relationships involving love and sex, and where the heck you fit into this world.
Where Isenberg appears to fit is in the front rank of 2022’s most intriguing new musical artists.
The 20-year old songwriter is out on her first headlining tour, under her performing moniker, Renforshort, which touches down Saturday, Oct. 1, at Brighton Music Hall in Boston.
The "Dear Amelia Tour," promoting her debut album that just arrived this summer, is hitting a baker’s dozen of North American cities and then making a nine-date European swing. But Renforshort is not an overnight sensation; she’s been writing songs since she was 13. She grew up in Toronto in a musical family; her three older brothers were all musicians. Crafting her own songs was fun, but performing at an open mike at age 14 had her hooked.
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By February 2019, Isenberg was posting a couple of her tunes with stripped-down instrumental backing, and “Waves” and “Mind Games” were quintessential slices of teen life that struck an immediate chord. When they resulted in five million streams, she got a call from Geffen Records. Before long there was a debut EP and a single all about anxiety and panic attacks, and “I Drive Me Mad” and its inventive video went viral.
A follow-up single, “Fxxx I Love My Friends” about those themes of doubt, anxiety and loyalty blew up with 11 million streams despite coming out the same month the pandemic hit. In 2021, another EP, “Saint Dominique,” registered 15 million streams.
It's been a dizzying few years for the young songwriter. Mike Shinoda of Linkin Park wanted to collaborate. There’s a live video with Travis Barker. And the new album includes a duet with Jake Bugg. Meanwhile, Renforshort has opened Yungblud’s “Life on Mars” tour.
“Headlining my own tour is still surprising to me,” said Isenberg, shortly before her Pittsburgh show last week, the fourth date on this tour. “I still feel I’m not really headlining and am just an opener. But I’m looking out and seeing people singing my songs with me and that’s just crazy. I’m becoming a lot more comfortable with myself onstage."
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The mark of a good songwriter is being able to say something or effectively describe something in a way we’ve never heard before. Isenberg has that aspect covered. She’s also mastered the technique of going from quiet moments to more powerful rocking, loud segments to reflect strong emotions. Who would ever imagine depicting the end of a toxic relationship as “Baby, we’re a moshpit ...” would work? Yet that tune off the new album is superb, with acoustic guitars surging up to pulsing rock with a simple arrangement that has a hypnotic flow.
“Virtual Reality” is another standout track (and video), midtempo rock over gentle rhythms, as she sings “I don’t want to live my life on the internet, I want to go outside like a kid again ...”
“That’s a little bit frustrating to me, the way kids my age are so unaware of the world around them,” Isenberg said. “That’s one of my pet peeves, the social isolation all the cellphones and internet brings.”
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“Fall Apart” is another remarkable tune, done as a duet with the rocker Glaive, with a stunning video and even an intense performance video that served as her television debut when it was played on "The Late Show with Stephen Colbert." It’s an intense portrait of a romance imploding and we wondered about the challenge of performing such loaded material every night.
“It totally is difficult to perform some of these songs because of how much they mean to me,” Isenberg said. “I can see people in the crowd definitely reacting very emotionally, and it was hard the first couple of times I sang things like ‘Fall Apart.’ But I think that’s good, to be able to get all that emotion out and help people relate to it from their own lives.”
There may be many fans who are drawn to the older song “Bummer,” which is all about self-doubt and anxiety, yet rides the most peppy, infectious melody and rhythm.
“I wanted to make that song infectious and catchy, so that the music is so contradictory to the theme,” said Isenberg with a soft laugh. “It’s a way to make sure people listen.”
On the new album, the title cut is about a girl suffering acute anxiety and dark thoughts, but as “Dear Amelia” begins like it is about a sad friend, it soon becomes apparent it is really about the singer, a side of her that she battles to keep at bay.
“It is 100% difficult to write a song like ‘Dear Amelia,’ and then sing it every show,” Isenberg admitted. “But that is a side of me and it’s important to get to that truth.”
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With dozens of songs now under her belt, has songwriting become any easier for the singer?
“In a technical way, yes, but in an emotional way, no,” Isenberg said. “Understanding how to write songs is easier, certain techniques, but the feelings that go into them is not any easier. I tend to be very analytical. But my songwriting urge is never turned off, and I’m always storing ideas in my phone.”
One neat byproduct of her burgeoning stardom is that her light-hearted tune “Julian, King of Manhattan” has had results. The tune is her toe-tapping ode to Strokes singer Julian Casablancas, whom the song tells us is her ideal of a rock star she’d like to hang out with. But until recently, it had been simply a long-distance fantasy.
“Well, since writing that, I have had the pleasure of meeting Julian two times,” Isenberg said. “He’s a very cool guy."
'Cherry Marmalade' turns 20
The music scene seems to have lots of anniversary gigs these days, but City Winery is hosting a really superb one this weekend. Letters to Cleo singer Kay Hanley plays Friday and Saturday at City Winery to celebrate the 20th anniversary of her solo debut album, “Cherry Marmalade.” While Letters to Cleo had a fabulous run rocking the 1990s, with its cool contrast of Hanley’s sweet, trilling vocals set against the band’s hard rock, her solo records tended more toward Americana. We actually came to prefer that stripped-down version of Hanley because you can appreciate her voice and songwriting talents better in that format. In her annual performances in the Hot Stove Cool Music baseball/rock benefit concerts, Hanley has sung material from both stages of her career, but probably a bit more of the solo stuff and it always gets a terrific response.
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THURSDAY: Roadrunner has a big pop show with Japanese Breakfast and Yo La Tengo opening. Donna the Buffalo jams at The Narrows Center. Americana songsmith Paul Thorn is at The Spire Center. The David Wax Museum harmonizes at The Burren. They call Maude Latour’s music “existential pop,” perhaps because she’s got a philosophy degree from Columbia and she’s at The Paradise. Actor/singer Ben Platt, another Columbia alum, is at The Agganis Center. Hip-hop star Brother Ali heats up Brighton Music Hall.
FRIDAY: The North Mississippi All Stars get down at The Sinclair. The Harbormen bring their nostalgia tour to The C-Note. The Duppy Conquerors’ reggae fire is at Soundcheck Studios. Tristan McIntosh brings her Ronstadt Experience to The Spire Center.
SATURDAY: Norwegian pop sensation Sigrid takes over The House of Blues. The stellar roots music duo of Sonny Landreth and Cindy Cashdollar lead their band into The Spire Center. Vineyard funksters Entrain are sure to heat up The Narrows Center. Bob Wolfman has a hot new album out, saluting and re-creating some of Jimi Hendrix’ best; catch his band at The C-Note. The pop quintet known as Superorganism rocks The Paradise. Death Cab for Cutie closes out the season at Leader Bank Pavilion.
SUNDAY: Rocker Allen Stone brings his Karaoke Experience to City Winery for two shows. If you don’t like football, check out the Sunday afternoon (4-8 p.m.) blues jam at Players in Rockland, with the Michelle Rockwell Band.
MONDAY: Electronic sounds with Morcheeba at The Paradise, while Sunny Day Real Estate rocks The House of Blues, but the big show is The Killers at TD Garden.
TUESDAY: Gaslight Anthem rocks MGM Music Hall.
OCT. 6: Guitar ace Jeff Beck is at MGM Music Hall, while Vanilla Fudge takes on The Narrows Center.
OCT. 8: Barns Courtney sings at The Paradise, and East Weymouth’s Congregational Church welcomes Battle of the Saxes, with songwriter Jake Armerding.
How to see Renforshort
When: 8 p.m. Oct. 1
Where: Brighton Music Hall, 158 Brighton Ave., Boston
Tickets: $18
Info: 617-208-8786 or https://crossroadspresents.com/pages/brighton-music-hall
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This article originally appeared on The Patriot Ledger: Alt-pop superstar-to-be Renforshort will perform in Boston
