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"The Arena" Album Review By Michael Smith, Drum Media. 24/11/09 Opening Song, Iron Will, might be a plea to an aloof lover to accept the comfort being offered, but in the opening line "Iron Will, you think that'll get you through", there's also a hint at the dilemma Field himself faced as an artist - a dilemma that ultimately led to the making of this album. Confronted by the diminishing returns of Australia's miniscule marketplace already saturated with singer/songwriters, it seemed even an iron will couldn't help him break through and he literally gave it away only to discover that, like all true artists, the art demands its time in the sun. The "comfort", in Field's case, was rediscovering that the process of creation is actually the point, the resulting artefact merely an acknowledgement of the fact. So the ardour and passionate inensity that had been hallmarks of a sort on his previous two albums has relaxed a little and Field is obviously having fun, on a skipping ditty like Molly Mae for instance, without losing any of his innate melodic sensibilities or compromising his astute turns of phrase. He's also expanded his instrumental arsenal, tossing the odd unexpected colour - a bit of glockenspiel here, some clarinet there, even a jigsaw (if you listen carefully to the jaunty track of that name) - into the mix. In fact Field not only produces but also plays most of the instruments on The Arena, making it very much a personal creative statement. Musically, the album is as melodically diverse as the instrumentation, and if just one song on this collection resonates with you, dear reader, Field has achieved all he could have hoped. |
"The Arena" Album Review By Aidan Roberts, Alternative Media Group. 18/11/09 A glance at the cover of this album reveals a rather Gilmour-esque down-turned face, his cranium opened up like an eggshell, hollowed into a Greek amphitheatre. From this evocative graphic we can only assume that the music contained therein is a window into the inner workings of Renny Field’s sombre existence. Upon listening, it’s not the introspective exploration you might expect – Field’s parlour guitar and remarkably dexterous voice are warm and soulful, and the lilting resolve of Iron Will has a curiously ennobling effect. To use an appropriate cliche, Field is a songwriter’s songwriter – his lyrics drive the purpose of the songs home, melodies supporting but never overshadowing the effect of his text. At times his thoughts are depicted with brazen honesty and overt sentimentalism – from the charmingly free Flying to the dirge of Wheel of Fortune wherein he chants; “The scars lie within, you got to search your soul for the healing to begin”. In his own persuasive way, Field has got his message across with pleasing simplicity. This is the arena of a troubled young mind – ably depicted in music and poetry. |
"The Arena" Album Review iTunes review - 07/11/09 Renny Field's latest album, The Arena, does what all good third albums should - remembering the lessons from the first two and leaving the listener in anticipation of the fourth. Here is an artist that is delivering on his strengths, a comforting but unpretentious voice beautifully matched to the caresses of his acoustic guitar. Field's songs explore familiar terrain such as relationships and life choices, but it would be a mistake to think that this is where the artistry ends. The lead single is the delightfully infectious Molly Mae, which is enjoyable as a stand alone tune, but also a pointer to what is the real beauty of this album, its refreshing and often raw honesty. The guiless recount of how his object of affection is unable to find haven in his emotional orbit is immediately endearing: the lyrical candour "I'm just a simple man" is perfectly pitched, inviting affinity, even empathy, but never pity (leave that to Patrick Swayze's 1988 ditty "She's like the wind"). The backing vocals of Humphreys and Buckingham are the well placed aural garnish on this track. Two other tracks will reward multiple playbacks and reflection. "Set in Stone" is a great example of a singer meeting the vocal challenges of the writer; here, Renny's voice shows a lovely range assisted by the finest lyrics of the album... "What we set in stone were borrowed thoughts we did not own". This is a brave admission to what too many of us never acknowledge or admit: the process we go through of constructing the perfect relationship rarely, if ever, has input from the person we end up with... do we all settle? Finally, track 11, The Birds, is perhaps the most interesting of all the tracks. The arrangement is so unique and engaging and the message of the song is a great mix of self fortification for the writer and an ever so gentle "thanks but no thanks" to those people around us who too often express concern for some of our own life choices. The Arena is a generous offering of fourteen songs which has wisely resisted the temptation of whimsical genre transgressions; Field is an artist at home and excelling in the indie-folk groove, allowing the album to stay true to its mission. |
"Molly Mae" Single Review iTunes review - 15/9/09 Singer-songwriters such as Field manage to capture and combine both authenticity and a certain infectiousness that so often eludes their pre fab recording artist colleagues. Like Missy Higgins and James Taylor before him, Field delivers on many fronts, perhaps most satisfying is his guiless recount of attraction and affection for a woman he can't seem to fit into his emotional orbit. This lyrical candour partners beautifully with the indie folk vibe of this treat of a song, the tune is accessible on so many fronts. A song writer coming into his own. |
"26 Reasons" CD Review - The Beat Magazine, Melbourne By Graham Blackley - 13/7/05 26 Reasons is the second album from Australian singer-songwriter Renny Field. His debut album, Make Believe, released in December 2003, received warm reviews and he has played to appreciative audiences in Oz and overseas. Although 26 Reasons didn’t grab me immediately it is certainly a grower. Opening track Finding Solace is a well paced slice of folk pop. Gravity sports a finger clicking laid-back groove. The piano-led What More Can I Do is a lighter-held-in-the-air big ballad. The rollicking and up-tempo Showbiz would fit well into one of those classic Hollywood musicals or a glitzy Broadway stage production. Renny’s voice is at its best here as it is particularly robust and intense and he sounds like he is having a hell of a lot of fun. The dynamic Hold On is reminiscent of Coldplay. I love the poetic One More Song which Renny dedicates to “my friends at the Brass Monkey”. The pub is closing and the muso needs to say farewell yet he feels a burning desire to remain for it is through performance that he can momentarily “forget about life”. You can almost smell the spilt beer as the ache of late-night weariness is eased by the inviting warmth of the bar that has become a home-away-from-home. Now that I have enjoyed that so much it’s time to play the whole album again because as I said it really is a grower, a work rich in depths and textures that are revealed and amplified by repeated listens. |
"26 Reasons" Album Launch Review - The Vanguard, Newtown - Fri 3/6/05. By Michael Smith - Drum Media 14/6/05 ... It was obvious though that for all their intense chatter, this was very much a Renny Field audience, and he proved himself more than capable of working with them with as much deft professional ease as an artist with a decade more experience than he has accumulated to date. Field might only have been writing and performing three years or so now, but the depth of craft in his writing and skill in his performance is extraordinary. Moving between piano and guitar, either alone, with his band, or with a guest cellist, his set was the perfect mix of ballads, pop and rockers, his sense of dynamics faultless. The set also mixed in a lot more tracks from his debut album, Make Believe, than you might have expected at a launch for his second, 26 Reasons, but it all worked seamlessly, which makes picking a highlight pretty difficult. And yes, there were moments where Field's performance couldn't help but recall the pop piano players of the past, whether Peter Allen or Elton John or Billy Joel, but those moments never tipped over into cliche or excess. Its just inevitable. After all, those guys had such a big impact on the form. But theres enough indie savvy and simple openness in Field's take on the whole thing to make it his own. And this is just the beginning. |
Renny Field – Make Believe - Album Review By Michael Smith, Drum Media. 27/01/04 A piano man not burdening his songs with too many flourishes, an acoustic guitarist who strums with quiet intensity, Sydney-based singer songwriter Renny Field certainly has the passion to develop a following among those readers who have picked up on the likes of David Gray, whom he cites as one of his influences, and as good a reference point as any for the kind of rock/pop ballad he presents on his debut album. The more traditional kind of piano man comes to the fore on the title track, matching the suitably cutting observations on the “bright young things about town” with a number of different “movements” in a sort of sub-Joel kind of way, but, as I’ve already suggested, without becoming pompous or overblown in the process, something a major label and big time studio and producer could easily do, such is the song’s potential in terms of Drama. Similarly, there’s something of the early Elton John (the best stuff) on the gently uplifting Why are you waiting and All I’ve Needed, just a voice and a piano, beautifully effective and affecting. There’s also a hint of your Coldplays in tracks like Finding Solace and Fighting Against the Wind, where Field is strumming that acoustic and delivering his lyrics with a palpable vulnerability against the spare rhythm section of brother Matt on drums and bass and electric guitar player Jason Mannell. By contrast the straightforward rock of Running Around and Man on the Stage suggests to me Field is better off developing the more plaintive aspects of his songwriting, as he does on the second half of the latter. In fact, Field tends to be most effective on this record when it’s all stripped back to just his voice and a piano, as on Why are you Waiting, or acoustic, as on the first half of Human Touch. That’s not to say he should lose the rhythm section. Rather I’m saying the songs are strong enough anyway, so maybe with a decent budget he could explore some richer sounds on his next outing, strings for instance. Either way, Make Believe is a solid introduction to a local singer songwriter with enormous potential. |
  
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