Rénovations - Blank

Review by; Kayleigh

Electro-rock trio Renovations from Edinburgh, Scotland bring an interesting take on their alternative sound with newest album Blank. The group who formed in October of 2019 have been writing together since the first lockdown during 2020. Renovations take inspiration from events such as Brexit and the pandemic while exploring how these unusual and difficult situations affect us. Renovations may have only been together for a few years, but they already have six singles, an EP, a debut album and now a second album under their belts. Showing that this trio aren’t shying away from hard work. New album ‘Blank’ was recorded with Graeme Young at Chamber Studios and was self-produced by the band. This one delves further into social feelings and each song contained on the 12-track focuses on a different topic. Opening ‘Blank’ is the powerful ‘Precious Stone’. Coming in hard with a more aggressive sound the chant-like opening will most likely catch your attention. Much like many songs on ‘Blank’ there is like complimentary contrast of heavier sounding guitars put with bright dance electronics. ‘Precious Stone’ is a great song to ease you into the album and Renovations sound. Then second track on ‘Blank’ changes things up a little, ‘Bed Is In The Bathroom’ which describes COVID testing rooms, drives in a more alluring sort of mysterious and dark direction, while also having really upbeat drums that keep the feeling high. The contrast of the dark and the light fits the theme of the song which lyrically talks of the contrast of the greys of the testing rooms vs the romantic and unrealistic desire for normal life. Aside from the kind of depressing theme I thought this one was pretty fun, the only downside was that it wasn’t long enough, I really wanted more. ‘Blank’ takes a quick pop break with ‘Yell’ before sliding back into the heavier side with ‘Scars’. ‘Scars’ is in my opinion one of the “heaviest” on the album and to me is a straight up alt rock song. There is still a fair use of electronics/synth, but it feels more guitar driven. ‘Scars’ is an appealing track with these massive room-filling vocals that make you want to listen. Jumping to 10th track ‘Repetitions’ which is themed around the routine of praying and believing in a higher entity. It’s got this fun, punchy dance intro that very quickly grabbed my attention and is one of the reasons this one is a favourite for me. There are also a few moments where more guttural type vocals were shown off which I thought was pretty cool, and different for Renovations. The last two tracks on ‘Blank’ seem to go more in the dark dance/electronic direction and I really enjoyed both. ‘Euphoria’ which appropriately is themed around that feeling of losing yourself in ecstasy at a club is one I fell in love with instantly. It literally feels like you could lose yourself inside this track. The vocals that featured are a little rocky adding a bit of an edge to the dance track. I can’t tell you how much I would love to experience this one live. Then closer ‘Sphere’ is a dark instrumental that gives feelings of tension and urgency. It’s comes at you hard and fast and is an interesting choice to close ‘Blank’. ‘Sphere’ feels a bit chaotic but in an enjoyable way, the swelling guitars matched with the racing drums and the intense synth make it a cool and different one to listen to. Overall, I think what Renovations have done with ‘Blank’ is really interesting, they’re pushing the boundaries of alt music and seem to be just seeing what they can create and doing a great job of it. The way they yo-yo from more punk rock to electronic dance music while hitting everything in between, on one album is very impressive, it also means you never have a second to get bored while listening to ‘Blank’. I have mentioned a few of my favourites from this 12-track but anyone that’s interested should experience the full thing for themselves, it’s worth it. 4 out of 5 Renovations are - Charlotte Pulcino: Bass, Vocals Ioana Pavel: Electric Guitar Gian Paolo Sudar: Drums, Synths, Backing Vocals Tracklist

1. Precious Stone

2. Bed Is In The Bathroom

3. Yell

4. Scars

5. Time Is A Common Problem

6. Rinse and Wring

7. Larguee

8. Forest

9. Grind Mentality

10. Repetitions

11. Euphoria

12. Sphere

To order the album, click here.