Published
Wed, Nov 29, 2017, 15:00
- Few Traces collects material recorded between 1982 and 1990.
Adventurous New York label RVNG Intl. is releasing a compilation of early Mark Renner tunes in February.
Renner is a little-known US musician and painter who started out some four decades ago. He cites influences like Yellow Magic Orchestra, mid-'80s Van Morrison and new wave groups including Ultravox and Skids, along with literary figures such as Hermann Hesse and W. B. Yeats. According to press notes for Few Traces, he began recording on his own in the early '80s, using an electric guitar, a Casio CZ-101 synthesizer and a portable four-track.
RVNG Intl. boss Matt Werth discovered Renner when he came across a copy of his rare, self-released 1986 album All Walks Of This Life at a flea market. Few Traces, which comes in double-vinyl, CD and digital formats, will feature a mix of released and unreleased material that Renner recorded from 1982 to 1990—including instrumental pieces originally made to soundtrack his painting exhibitions—and liner notes written by journalist Brandon Soderberg.
A short Renner documentary, by Maia Stern, will be shared around the time the compilation comes out. Watch the trailer for it.
And watch Elspeth Parsons' video for "Half A Heart."
Tracklist
01. Riverside
02. Saints And Sages
03. Few Traces
04. Half A Heart
05. Princes Street
06. The Mirror At Saint Andrews
07. The Wild House
08. The Dyer's Hand
09. A Fountain In The Cloister
10. James Cowie (The Portrait Group)
11. Autumn Calls You By Name
12. Ageless
13. Jars Of Clay
14. More Or Less
15. The Eternal Purpose
16. The Sun In His Head, A Storm In His Heart
17. The Man & The Echo
18. As Big As Trees
19. Yeats, And The Golden Dawn
20. It Might Have Been
21. Wounds
RVNG Intl. will release Few Traces on February 16th, 2018.
Photo credit: Charles Freeman