Don't Be Funny Without Me

Description

On "Don''t Be Funny Without Me (DBFWM)", Le Ren confides with touching tenderness: "I love the man I wanted to be." She is both funny and heartbreaking, lucid and a little naive. Throughout the album, she cultivates these contradictions: both cheeky and ashamed, honest but always in search of a less painful truth. "DBFWM" is an album about love, jealousy, and their often complex relationships. After touring the world as a supporting act for artists like Jeff Tweedy, Devendra Banhart, and Men I Trust, Le Ren decided to return to Canada to record "DBFWM". Recorded in Mountain Grove, Ontario, the album is self-produced with her old friends Fez Gielen and Jonas Bonetta. Le Ren's lyrics are steeped in that Northern strength, like the sight of a sunset on the cracked asphalt of Parc Avenue, or from the parking lot of your favorite gas station. Where Leftovers was stripped down, evocative in its simplicity, DBFWM offers a richer sound: violins, drums, layered harmonies. Powerfully bearing witness to Le Ren's musical evolution, DBFWM is broader, more accomplished, and more sincere, reflecting the richer and wiser life the artist has earned. Le Ren's signature angelic voice is now elevated by a full band. With a catchy lead guitar and multiple voices woven into rich harmony, the album sounds like the fruit of a union between an 80s Emmylou Harris and the indignant Gillian Welch of the Time (The Revelator) era. Both poignant and intoxicating, Don't Be Funny Without Me is a post-breakup road trip with your best friend: no specific destination, a trunk full of baggage (literally and figuratively), and the soft sunlight caressing your face through the car window.