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SOHN – Rennen Reaction

SOHN - RennenSo I recently discovered SOHN through his very dope “Hard Liquor” video (which I featured in one of my last video roundups) and I was drawn to his electronic/pop mix and overall aesthetics. That lead me back to his debut album Tremors, which dropped a couple years back and I instantly became a fan. After running that album through it’s paces ten times over, I couldn’t wait to get a hold of his follow up, Rennen.

The production on Rennen is fantastic. It’s definitely more pop leaning electronic music but it’s got some serious skill behind it. For me, some electronic music can get very redundant but he manages to bend all the modern synths and beats of EDM into refreshing new directions; in particular, thanks to his amazing ability to layer his own vocal samples into the instrumentation. It’s really hypnotic stuff that had me vibing out on multiple occasions and for the production, there are a lot of surprisingly quiet, atmospheric moments throughout the album. “Hard Liquor” was the first song that drew me to SOHN with it’s hard hitting, hypnotic bass line that punches throughout the song. “Conrad” has a cool southern blues vibe to it that somehow works with the synths and “Falling” makes incredible use of his vocal samples and repetition. The whole album is just mesmerizing.

“Harbour, harbour
Bring me into your arms
Open, open
Your heart to a wanderer
Wake me, wake me
And I’ll be your doting son
Harbour, harbour
Save me from the open sea”

I called SOHN pop but really he’s more akin to a weird modern approximation of blues. The whole affair is melancholy, from his delivery to lyrics, which creates a unique dichotomy between his production and vocals. The songwriting isn’t nearly as good as most blues music but it’s serviceable and his vocals, which are very good, are almost an extension of the production itself. This is one of the most unique and unexpected listens I’ve had since Woodkid and that’s a very good thing.

Have you heard Rennen? What’d you think about it? What’d you think about the way he used his own vocal samples in the production? Let me know in the comments below and be sure to leave your rating for the album.

SOHN - Rennen
Rennen Reaction
Conclusion
Rennen was such a unique listening experience that produced an interesting dichotomy between the modern synths/beats and the melancholy vocals. It's a mesmerizing album that showed SOHN to be a world class producer.
Community Rating1 Vote
8.3
Fuego!!!
Hard Liquor
Falling
Conrad
Hard Passes
None
8.3
out of 10
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Damaged City Festival 2019 | Photos | LIVING LIFE FEARLESS

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