Le Ren shares new single ahead of October release of debut album

New single “Dyan” is out now from Le Ren’s debut album Leftovers

Montreal’s (/Tiohtià:ke’s) Le Ren today announced her debut album Leftovers will be released on October 15th via Royal Mountain Records and Secretly Canadian. With production by Chris Cohen and contributions from Buck Meek and Tenci (among others), the LP’s organic yet meticulous folk soundscapes and deeply felt lyrics weave a rich musical tapestry that reveals new meanings within a lifetime of relationships, addressed to loved ones lost, found, and kept. Warm, lilting lead single “Dyan”—a heartfelt dedication to Le Ren’s mother—is out today alongside an equally tender video directed by Ali Vanderkruyk. 

“My intention was to try to describe the way I feel eternally connected to my mother while living far away from her, especially during the pandemic when distance feels bigger than it did before,” explains Le Ren of the meaning behind “Dyan.” “I’m constantly reminded of her love – in seeing the sky turn a certain shade of blue, in silver-grey hair, in the music I make and listen to because of her. I also recognize her in the way I speak and how I process certain emotions.”

“This video is an ode to the touch and gestures taught to us by our mothers/guardians,” adds Vanderkruyk. “The visual impressions we learn in childhood that dictate our ways of seeing and understanding the world. And for Le Ren, who has such a strong commitment to given and chosen family, the practice of these gestures come as naturally as breathing. To display her warmth feels integral to her music.”

With the release of her Royal Mountain/Secretly Canadian EP Morning & Melancholia in 2020, Le Ren (née Lauren Spear) earned comparison to the deft musicianship and sparse, eloquent lyrics of John Prine and Neil Young. On Leftovers, she shows us the vivid depth of her sonic and thematic range, writing with a bold clarity that finds her a home among classic icons like Joni Mitchell, Vashti Bunyan, and Karen Dalton, as well as a new class of folk extraordinaires, such as Adrianne Lenker, Jessica Pratt, and Laura Marling.

Leftovers presents equal parts melancholy, deep love, and levity to lift up the mournful as it stitches together a patchwork of personal songs about different relationships: those we share with mothers, lovers, and friends. Spear created a physical quilt to mirror the assemblage of stories that comprise her album: a coming-of-age collage that collects over four years of past experiences and finds their present meaning. “When I think of leftovers, I think of things that have been cast aside,” she says. “When they’re picked back up or remembered, they can be repurposed… Leftovers came to mean a collection of feelings and moments of the past that still remain relevant to my present.”

Leftovers finds Le Ren distilling years of material into ten tightly executed tracks united by the swooning pluck of her guitar and the crystal clear timbre of her voice. In April 2021, she met with Cohen in a rented house in Portland, Oregon, where they had to wait for a neighbourhood boy to stop making noise outside before they could record. The album came together much like the patchwork of her quilt, with collaborators Kori Miyanishi, Cedric Noel, Saltwater Hank (Jeremy Pahl), Eliza Niemi, Kaïa Kater, Aaron Goldstein, Buck Meek, and Tenci (Jess Showman) recording their parts separately from across North America. The result is a timeless assemblage of love, heartache, celebration, and lessons hard-learned, written and performed by a musician who has honed the subtleties of her craft.

“Dyan” is out now. It is available here. Leftovers is out on October 15th via
Royal Mountain Records and Secretly Canadian. You can pre-order it here.

Le Ren – Leftovers

Tracklist
1. Take On Me
2. Dyan
3. Was I Not Enough?
4. I Already Love You
5. Who’s Going To Hold Me Next?
6. Your Cup
7. Annabelle and MaryAnne
8. Willow
9. Friends Are Miracles
10. May Hard Times Pass Us By

by Conor Mackie

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