ANCHR's Artist of the Week: Renforshort

renforshort is the moniker of Toronto-based singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist Lauren Isenberg, who crafts emotive alt-pop/bedroom pop tracks.

Photo by Nathalie Benshmuel

Although she wrote her first song as a young teenager and began singing at open mic nights in addition to releasing covers of songs online, renforshort didn’t release her first official single until 2019’s "Waves.” Nearly immediately after its release, the song drew attention from Geffen Records, and she ended up signing with them. renforshort’s debut EP teenage angst was released via Geffen Records and the seven tracks on it really embrace the bedroom pop feel because there’s such an intimate and vulnerable feel to the storytelling and the songwriting.

Earlier in July, renforshort released her debut full-length LP after following up teenage angst with several additional singles. The debut record called dear amelia features my favorite song from the artist to date, called “moshpit.” The song so vividly illustrates the pain of a toxic relationship by metaphorically relating it to getting beat up in a moshpit. The accompanying songs on the album also see renforshort exploring other mental health struggles, such as depression, disassociation, anxiety, and self-erasure, but she delivers it in a way that listeners can relate and find comfort in the message. Each song is tied together by that common thread, but we also experience an expansive sonic range that takes her artistry to another level. The songs move from the dazzling electronic beat of “we’ll make this ok” (featuring Travis Barker) to the mellow acoustic melody of “let you down” (featuring Jake Bugg) to the stunning piano and vocoder-driven title track “amelia.”

renforshort will be on tour throughout the fall in support of dear amelia— see where you can catch her here, and tune into “moshpit” below.

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