Remi Russin — 31 January 2024 on Rocket Shop Radio Hour

Monochrome photo by Ross Mickel

Remi Russin joined host Tom Proctor on ‘Rocket Shop,’ Big Heavy World’s weekly local Vermont music radio hour on 105.9 FM The Radiator. Catch up with them at instagram.com/remi_russin_vevo

Text by Keagan Lafferty

Remi Russin was wearing black jeans and a felt purple flannel, with long brown hair and glasses framing their face. They held a lemon yellow bass covered in multicolored stars, with paint peeling to expose a light brown wood. The tattered look complimented Russin’s indie style and demonstrated the commitment they have toward music. “I’ve dropped it so hard it’s slipped into the fourth dimension,” said Russin.

The room was full at Rocket Shop on January 31st, with Russin’s five piece band bringing a special lively energy. Amaal Abdelrahman played synth keys, what she calls an “electronic musical instrument,” with Connor Brock switching between MIDI keys and guitar. Max Mashrick, on guitar, was constantly jumping up and down and moving side to side, giving me second-hand whiplash as he threw his hair around in sync with Evan Raine’s upbeat drum grooves.

Remi Russin’s music is inspired by 80s British jangle pop; bands like The Field Mice and Felt; and mid 2000s alternative pop like The Cure. They sound like a combination of shoegaze and energized melancholy, with fast paced rhythms and catchy progressions.

The band was never intended to be serious; three years ago Russin wanted a band to play with for their album release show, but, once started, the group felt fitting and continued. Raine and Russin had played lots of music together before; “Evan [Raine] was kind of obligated,” said Russin. Brock then joined, and Russin found Mashrick and Abdelrahman through their other local band, Lake Waves. “Outright I knew that I needed them,” said Russin. 

Abdelrahman has another band as well, a solo project called Young Laidy. “It's nice to be able to continue to play music with my friends,” said Abdelrahman. “All of it felt like a natural new kind of wave.”

We discussed the relationship between songwriting and composition, and how Russin considers the instrumentation during the songwriting process. “If there’s empty space I fill it with something,” said Russin. 

The vocals tend to sit in the mix similar to the rest of the instruments instead of being front and center, a stylistic technique common in shoegaze. “It's this tug of war between adopting a more pop affectation of being heard,” said Russin. “But also still trying to preserve that really heavy wall of sound dreaming.”

Russin has also learned to sing louder so that they can be heard with the band. “If I wanted to be heard, I had to project a little bit, and this is the first time I've done vocals on anything,” said Russin. “It's been very therapeutic and cathartic. I have to practice and find a voice, feign some confidence here.”

Russin writes a lot of poetry, impacting the style of their lyrics, but it’s difficult to extract meaning when the vocals are low in the mix. “I'm probably most insecure about [the lyrics].” said Russin. “So maybe that attributes to it being a little further down in the mix; my lyrics have always been just for me.”

Russin uses music as an outlet for emotions that can’t be processed in any other way. “Music is the arena where I process some of the darker things in my life in a way that feels less destructive,” said Russin. “[It’s] a way to get the poison out.”

Russin’s first song performed at Rocket Shop was “A Second Pass,” the title track off their most recently released album. The song was upbeat with a happy and carefree feeling. A catchy repetitive guitar riff with chorus and phase effects created an indie tone, and dynamic shifts in energy were emphasized with varying drum overhead hits and a hard-hitting key change.

A Second Pass was released in October of 2023. The album felt like a more complete thought than previous releases, including their EP, Math For Poets, released in July of 2021 as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. While Math For Poets consisted of incidental songwriting and was a learning process, A Second Pass was created with more intentional and specific ideas.

A Second Pass was recorded while renting an Airbnb in Manchester over a weekend, creating an impressive professional sounding mix given the space. “I don’t think [the Airbnb owners] know that we did that,” said Russin. The band recorded eight songs in two days; “I did vocals the night before we left until like 7am,” said Russin.

Russin then took a few months apart from the project before beginning the mixing process. “You hear stuff a certain amount of times and, like, you don't hear it anymore,” said Russin. “I had to take some time off and then August to October was pretty much every day I went to work. I came home and was in my basement just mixing.” The album was then mastered by Trevor Sohnen at Photo Records, a local analog-based recording studio in Burlington.

Russin’s next song they performed on Rocket Shop was “Xantham Gum,” beginning with a catchy indie guitar riff with a heavy use of reverb. It had an emphasis on drum overheads during the choruses, elevating energy while Abdelrahman played MIDI and Brock played guitar.

Russin emphasized the value of Burlington’s local music scene, praising the talent and support that exists within the community. “I look up to everyone in the scene here and the bar in Burlington is so high,” said Russin. “I have no ambitions of doing this in any professional capacity but the folks in the community here are the folks I'm trying to impress. I want to reach a level of polish good enough to be a footnote in that conversation. That's what I strive for.”

Russin has in fact seen their music reach people they look up to, creating a rewarding feeling as they become more well-known within the community. “Graduating to the next age band of folks, people in town that I had always looked up to suddenly know our names and are asking us to play bills,” said Russin.

Russin especially feels Burlington’s unique culture during live shows. “I have a really hard time saying no because there's so much going on in Burlington and so many people that I want to collaborate with,” said Russin. “I'm trying to create and cram as many memories into this project while there's momentum.”

Remi Russin Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/remi_russin_vevo/?hl=en

Remi Russin on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/artist/0MRj8mO09aDH4XtVaU0ZHA 

Remi Russin on Bandcamp: https://remirussin.bandcamp.com/album/a-second-pass-3