Listen: Doin’ Fine! by The Artist Ren

The Artist Ren Doin’ Fine! The Artist Ren is the musical project of Lauren Van Houten, who started creating music in 2020, during the early pandemic. With no label or management, she prides herself on working independently, and creating music that starts with a story. Lauren constantly makes notes on her phone — capturing thoughts, overheard conversations, things from media consumed, and imaginings. Here on The Artist Ren’s latest single, Doin’ Fine!, sunny laid-back guitars meet a grungy swaggering bass line. The contrast at play in the instrumentation betrays the emotional through-current of the song itself, which centres on a relationship that is coasting in neutral. Doin’ Fine!’s lyrics depict the small details that imply something isn’t quite right in your relationship — a forgotten birthday, misremembered preferences. At the same time the easy-breezy feel of the song’s instrumentation suggest that maybe it’s all okay. A break-up feels drastic and dramatic, doesn’t it? Yet whilst…