Tag: Reno McCarthy Counterglow

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

New Audio: Reno McCarthy Shares Wintry “Picture in Picture”

With the release of his full-length debut, 2019’s Counterglow, Montréal-based singer/songwriter, producer, and JOVM mainstay, Reno McCarthy quickly received attention for his remarkably self-assured songwriting.

Following the death of his father in 2020, McCarthy wrote Angels Watching Us Dance EP, an effort which saw the Canadian artist crafting stopped down, strikingly sensitive material informed by loss and heartbreak.

McCarthy’s sophomore album, 2021’s Run Up River featured three singles I wrote about on this site:

  • The introspective yet upbeat “Sundown,”

  • The slickly produced, St. Lucia-like ode to hesitation and indecisiveness, “For A Moment.”

  • “Nothing Less, Nothing More” is a slow-burning song that manages to evoke the uneasy swoon of a new relationship with both sides entering uncharted waters with themselves and each other. 

The Montréal-based JOVM mainstay began the year with the recently released Picture in Picture EP, which features title track “Picture in Picture.” Featuring strummed acoustic guitar, gently padded yet skittering drum beats, a sinuous bass line paired with fluttering and atmospheric synths paired with McCarthy’s plaintive crooning and his unerring knack for big, razor sharp hooks, “Picture in Picture” sees the Canadian artist balancing folk intimacy with pop bombast. Thematically, the song touches upon the existential threat of environment damage and the alienation of modern life, while evoking cold Montréal nights.

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

With the release of his full-length debut, 2019’s Counterglow, Montreal-based singer/songwriter and pop artist Reno McCarthy quickly received attention for his remarkably self-assured songwriting. The Montreal-based artist also received praise for his debonair stage presence — and for having a backing band that plays a groove-heavy live set. 

Following the loss of his father last year, McCarthy wound up writing and recording a moving and deeply moving EP, Angels Watching Us Down, which found the Montreal-based artist crafting much more stripped down and strikingly sensitive material.

Late last month, McCarthy released his sophomore album, RUN UP RIVER, which features the introspective yet upbeat “Sundown,” and the slickly produced, St. Lucia-like ode to hesitation and indecisiveness, “For A Moment.” The album’s latest single, the atmospheric “Nothing Less, Nothing More” is a slow-burning song featuring shimmering and reverb drenched guitars, skittering beats with a trippy Tame Impala-like coda with glistening synth arpeggios, held together with McCarthy’s delicate croon. The song manages to evoke the uneasy swoon of a new relationship with both sides entering uncharted waters with themselves and each other.

Centered around introspective, lived-in lyrics, the song as McCarthy explains “offers an honest look at the unstable nature of early relationships. It’s about accepting both ourselves and our loved ones for who we are.”

 

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

New Audio: Montreal’s Reno McCarthy Releases an Infectious and Deeply Personal Pop Song

Reno McCarthy quickly received attention for his self-assured songwriting. Live, McCarthy has a debonair quality and he and his backing band has been praised for their groove-heavy live sets.

Following the loss of his father last year, McCarthy wound up writing and recording a moving and deeply personal EP, Angels Watching Us Dance. The EP found McCarthy crafting stripped-down and strikingly sensitive material. Continuing upon a similar vein as Angels Watching Us Dance, McCarthy’s latest single, the standalone track “Sundown” is an introspective yet upbeat pop song centered around an expansive song structure featuring twinkling synths, glistening guitars, McCarthy’s plaintive vocals and a soaring hook and a brooding bridge, revealing an artist with an unerring ability to craft songs drawing from lived-in, personal experience: in the case of “Sundown,” the song’s lyrics touch on infatuation and obsession that should feel familiar to those who have been — or felt — unrequited love/lust/desire.