- Words Cal McIntyre
With the release of their latest collaboration, 'Lovers', we got the dream team Rebounder and Billy Lemos to talk us through how they are staying during isolation and to have a chat with each other.
New York-based singer and producer, Rebounder, is reviving the heyday of chilled indie-rock with his idiosyncratic brand of bedroom jams.
In 2018, Chenfeld released his first single as Rebounder in the form of “Japanese Posters,” which is ultimately a love letter to the golden age of indie rock he digested growing up. Fast forward to 2020 (a cursed year) – you can hear the evolution and growth already happening within the DNA of Rebounder’s tracks. With that growth comes Rebounder’s refusal to be trapped into a musical box; his tracks tend to spill and pour from a multitude of genres, resulting in the eclectic sound that is Rebounder.
Teaming up with Billy Lemos in their latest track ‘Lovers’ – the duo work together in harmony with the combined bedroom-pop Lemos soundscape and Rebounder’s gritty edge. The DIY ethos from the boys shines through the fluctuating airy melodies and woozy percussions.
We got the duo to have a chat with each other and to document their daily lives in isolation below!
Dylan Chenfeld: Hows it going in Chicago?
Billy Lemos: I have to wear a sweater indoors, but I can’t say its critical. Sun must be shining if you’re wearing a tank top in New York.
DC: I’ve been wearing this for some time now.
BL: Must be nice.
DC: I’m in the belly of the beast in the city, if all I get is hot weather and the ability to wear a tank top I can’t say that I’m coming out on top… which James Blake song am I hearing bleeding through the phone?
BL: His most recent “You’re Too Precious”.
DC: Called it.
BL: This is who I am.
DC: I can’t judge, recently I was described as if a deli ice coffee gained sentience.
BL: …not untrue.
DC: What else are you listening to these days?
BL: The Moses Sumney record is great, all the new Arca stuff is great as well…you?
DC: Mk.Gee, new Yung Lean… Arthur record is cool. Lots of Nilsson during these nights in.
BL: Is that new Strokes record still hitting for you?
DC: Strokes record is indeed hitting for me, reference my earlier comment about ice coffee… switching gears… when you were doing lovers how’d you do… what is it you do?
BL: I usually start by making the chords but in this case, I found the acoustic guitars that were lower in your mix… sometimes it’s hard to describe… I added drums and made drum patterns on top of the acoustic guitars, which I kind of brought to the front and made the core of the new song.
DC: That was the first big change I noticed.
BL: Yeah, added a lot of sp404 effects on top, wanted it darker.
DC: It grooves more.
BL: Yeah, just wanted to get it grooving, glitching, the new version is just something that feels @ home in my set and on my sampler.
BL: Was it ever faster, more a rock and roll thing?
DC: Eh, the song started with the guitar/keyboard riff, and then I built from there… there’s purposely no live drums or cymbals on the recording. My brother and bandmate Noah wrote the chorus, when I heard what he did over my half time groove, I had confidence I didn’t need to add a bunch of crap to fill it out or speed it up to give it more energy..it hits hard as is.. when we play it live and add real instruments on top it has a new level of intensity/push-pull.
BL: Play the remix version at your next show…
