Fund My Next Album

Why not be a patron of the arts?

Hello, my name is Hélène. I’m a singer-songwriter and I’ve been at it for 30 years. I’ve produced a number of albums and recordings in that time span, but in the last year and a half, I’ve embarked on a new adventure: recording an album at home, all by myself. This one is full length. All the songs are written, still evolving, and there are about a small dozen. I am a third to halfway through tracking (recording the different instruments and vocals). This is a long and work-intensive process and I’m very excited to produce and see a final product take shape! And you can be a part of it by contributing to my recording fund. It will serve to support and protect my recording time and help me get to the finish line faster, and better.

This is my most ambitious project yet. In part because the writing feels different: these songs explore different genres and perspectives, take strange turns and structures and ways to be - sometimes they whisper, sometimes they talk, or shout, or want a backbeat - it all depends. And because by doing it myself, I have to dig deeper and bring out everything I know and have learned as a musician. Something is trying to exist that feels very new and exciting to me. This is music in its most authentic form, which is difficult to produce because it isn’t prepackaged, commercial, or like anything you’ve heard before. It is a demanding process that’s hard to monetize and this is why I need your help.

I am challenging the general expectation that music is free. Yes, of course, it is free to make, to do with others, to enjoy every day, sing around a campfire or the dinner table. Music is so magical, every day. That’s why I started to do it in the first place, as a 7-year-old learning violin and a bit of piano, and that’s why I kept at it, writing and playing different instruments, until now. But music as we experience it in our modern culture takes time - hours, days, and months - to record and produce, while it is seemingly free to consume on the daily. In the (not so) old days, musicians would have an advance to count on as they recorded. So won’t you be my (unconditionally supportive) record label / patron / benefactor?

I promise to do my goddamn best to get down to making songs, produce them with love and to the best of my imagination, and deliver them to the world.

So if you believe in what I can bring forth into the world, if you’d like to hear a new Hélène Renaut album and have the means to support, I hope you will consider contributing.

Your financial backing will continue the century-old tradition of art patronage, and the songs will thank you for it.

Mille merci - a thousand thanks in advance!

LATEST

The last days of spring, dreaming of summer: envision a meadow full of wildflowers, birds & insects, with the wind gently swaying the tall grasses, the stems and calyxes. There, fanciful fairies weave delicate gossamer strings, setting the scene to entice the lovers to blissfully revel in each other and the wilderness around them. Acoustic, wooden tones, petals dancing in the breeze, bells and flutes, reeds and strings. Earth and air. Now imagine the fairies, their work done, leaving the site to go laze about and frolic by a brook, dancing of course, playing tricks and games, thrilled to think of their clever ambush and celebrating the lovers’ love. And there you have it!

Released June 16, 2023

Written, Recorded, Produced and Mixed by Hélène Renaut
Mastered by J.P. Bendzinski

All tracks © & ℗ 2023 by Hélène Renaut. All rights reserved

Track Listing

1. Summer Love

2. Let There Be Time

3. The Bells Of Freedom

4. The Angels Sing

5. What Will Tomorrow Bring

Produced by Pat Sansone; recorded and co-produced by Hélène Renaut and Caleb Conner at Deathstar Studios

Mastered by Michael Hynes (Nomatic Studio)

Cover photography by Carla Richmond Coffing © 2021, used by permission

Cover design: Hélène Renaut

All tracks © & ℗ 2021 by Hélène Renaut. All rights reserved.

The Bells Of Freedom

Out 8.20.21

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The Bells of Freedom, the latest release from folk artist Hélène Renaut, is a summery album, sporting a ‘60s feel and Renaut’s clear, sweet vocals over an arrangement of soft percussion and acoustic guitar. With lyrics that wrap around the coastline, The Bells of Freedom represents Renaut’s ode to California and life’s possibilities. Gentle harmonies frame this bouquet of love songs produced by Pat Sansone (Wilco, The Autumn Defense), co-produced and recorded by Renaut and Caleb Conner (Deathstar Studios), and mastered by Michael Hynes/Nomatic Studio (Robyn Hitchcock, Preacher Stone). Get ready to open your heart to The Bells of Freedom, your retro, sidewalk-café romance.

People Are Saying…

“Timeless… there’s a sublime intimacy in her singing that sounds like she’s in the same room, serenading you. This, along with gorgeously crafted songs strewn through a West Coast sun-flared filter, reveals a vision that is equal parts classic and contemporary.” — Eric Shea, Senior Curator, Pandora

"A voice like crystal bells. A singular style… magical.” — Ruthann Friedman

“Beautiful vocal harmonies… a sense of saudade.” — Andres Renteria (Nick Waterhouse, José González, Father John Misty, Mia Doi Todd)

“Hélène Renaut paints with melodies and words that subtly evoke both the fantasy of a carefree love and the real-life longing for such things. A universal story delivered in an unusual package.” — Bart Davenport (Bart & The Bedazzled, The Loved Ones)

ABOUT

Hailing from Brittany, France, Renaut was classically trained in violin. She later taught herself drums, guitar, ukelele and even a little mountain dulcimer. After her move to San Francisco, she quickly became part of the local folk and psych-pop scenes and released several EPs and an LP (The Deer Convention) to critical acclaim. Her single “Meet Me at Standing Rock” was part of a 2017 protest album compiled by Rachel Fannan called Save Your Prayers. Renaut’s influences are broad, ranging from modern classical, bossa nova, and Leonard Cohen to the Shirelles and Joni Mitchell. After successful tours of the east and west coasts and Europe, Renaut moved to Los Angeles, where she looks forward to performing again in local venues such as the Bootleg Theater, Human Resources, and Stories. The sun-drenched city deserves its own credit on Renaut’s 2021 EP, The Bells of Freedom — tender and intimate summery songs that invite the listener to open their heart to a better life and a better world. For her newest single Springtime, Hélène conjures intricate guitar, lush string arrangements, woodwinds, orchestral percussion and electronic textures to create a soundscape that immerses the listener in the emotion and atmosphere of a spring meadow in bloom.