Remayn is an indie-folk singer/songwriter from Eastbourne, England. He began writing music at the age of 26 as a way of processing grief after several personal tragedies. In April 2016 he released his first EP, 21276, named after the ages he was at the time of those tragedies. Described as ‘unapologetically macabre’ and ‘brutally honest’, the 5-track EP dealt with themes of loss, absence, confusion and sorrow.
Introduce yourself and your hidden talent!
Hello. My name is Rob, and I record/release music under the stage name Remayn. Remayn is my first initial, middle name initial and my surname, with an N on the end. I have no idea what the N could mean, but maybe other people can come up with that for me. The N is whatever you want it to be. I don’t know if I have any hidden talents…I can do quite a good impression of a pigeon, though.
Do you prefer performing live or recording, and why?
I like them both for different reasons. I LOVE recording as I get to hear something that I’ve written in just its skeleton form take shape into something I envisaged for it. I can play guitar and sing, but my producer helps me with other instruments etc. Sometimes a song has turned into something completely different than the crackly voice note I have recorded of it, and I love having something totally new at the end of a session. I enjoy performing live, but I get very nervous hours, sometimes days beforehand. Usually, I get into the rhythm of things when I get up there, but you can usually find me sat by myself before a gig, trying not to pass out! It also depends very much on the venue as well. My live set is just acoustic, so if I’m in a rowdy pub, not many people are going to hear me.
Who are your main musical influences and why?
This is a list that grows every day, I’m always on the lookout for new stuff. For this project (and to be fair in my life) the main influence is Jeff Buckley. Other 90’s bands come into play like The Cocteau Twins, Unified Theory…Ry X and Bon Iver are massive influences on me too. I’m already putting the pieces together for my next project, and that’s going to be inspired by artists like Sun Kil Moon, Phoebe Bridgers, ScaryPoolParty, Gregory Alan Isakov, William Wild, Nick Drake etc etc….
What’s the best advice you’d give to your younger self?
Start learning instruments and singing way, way sooner because you’re actually pretty good at it. Stop trying to fit in and start trying to stand out. Or better yet, just be yourself.
Tell MoggBlog viewers about your latest release! What’s the inspiration behind that?
My latest release is titled Him Always, Them Sometimes, Her Forever and is a collection of songs about the people/experiences that have moulded me, my life and crucially my mental health over my lifetime. Before this I only ever released acoustic songs (with a few electronic things thrown in) but I wanted to go all out, get my electric guitar out and make a proper ‘band’ record. It was supposed to be a 4 track EP, but the ideas kept coming and there was always something I thought ‘I can put that on this record’, so it ended up becoming an album. I’m very proud of it, and I hope whomever listens to it can find some comfort in it, some help…whatever they need. Some of the things I probably needed when going through the experiences I sing about.
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