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renforshort Releases Debut Album “Dear Amelia”

Today, Toronto artist renforshort releases her highly-anticipated debut full-length album dear amelia via Interscope Records. The twenty year old singer songwriter is a near-lifelong musician, playing guitar, piano, and drums, and started touring before she’d even graduated high school. renforshort, born Lauren Isenberg, crafts an elaborate sonic world in her lyricism, detailing her personal exploration of mental health and ultimately bringing even the most painful revelations to a cathartic, radiant life.

On her 12-track debut LP, renforshort joins forces with frequent collaborator Jeff Hazin as well as producers/co-writers like David Pramik, Alexander 23, Andy Seltzer, John Ryan, Tia Scola, and Nick Long. Tackling raw accounts of depression, disassociation, anxiety and self-erasure, this proves to be her most honest material yet. The album’s opener “i miss myself” serves as a chilling, thematic introduction to the album and acts as an audial diary entry. The deeply personal nature of each song conceptualizes into one cohesive, poignant body of work. 

Casting an alternative haze over pop, renforshort conjures emotionally charged, anthemic tracks that are punctuated by her intimate delivery and unfiltered lyricism. Recent single releases “made for you” and “moshpit” are both alt-pop anthems that are begging to be sung back- the majority of this album will surely translate well live. Her latest single, “Julian, king of Manhattan”, is a clever ode to Julian Casablancas, lead singer of the iconic New York City band, The Strokes. Namchecking the famed frontman, the track utilizes Strokes-esque synth and could very well become the most popular track off this release.

Two collaborations fall in the middle of the album and enact a welcomed change of pace, on each end of the spectrum. “we’ll make this ok” features blink-182 drummer and highly lauded collaborator, Travis Barker, and stands out as one of the most daring and high-charged tracks on the album. Alternatively the duet “let you down” features her all-time favorite artist, Jake Bugg, and brings us back down to Earth with a moving, beautifully stripped down ballad. The album’s closing track, “amelia” was the catalyst that sparked the concept for her full-length album and is penned in a highly emotive and reflective fashion. The song transitions from soft acoustics to hazy, a vocoder-enhanced epic and ends the album on a gripping note. 

Reinventing traditional pop music as we know it, renforshort excels at pushing the boundaries of genre and expectations, while vulnerably letting her walls down for audiences to deeply connect to her music. dear amelia is available everywhere now.

renforshort online: Website | Facebook | Instagram | Twitter | Tiktok | Youtube | Spotify | Apple Music

About Emma Furrier

Boston-based music writer and reviewer. Passionate about rock and roll, vinyl collecting, and any dog I’ve ever met.

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