REZN: Synth, Sax and Stoner Rock

The music-making friendship of Rob McWilliams and Phil Cangelosi began when the two met in third grade while living in Leesburg, Virginia. And at this point, they share "a total brotherly bond," McWilliams says.

Although they both picked up instruments at age twelve, starting a legit band in what McWilliams calls a "desert for good venues and shows" was difficult. In an effort to get on local bills, they mimicked any popular band that played nearby, such as at Warped Tour. “There are not many places to play up there. At the time, we were probably fourteen, fifteen when we were trying to start a band, and there’s just nothing to do,” McWilliams recalls. “We just wanted to play. We were transforming into whatever lineup was coming through town. We were basically a post-hardcore band to start.”

While in college, the duo morphed into “this sloppy two-piece punk thing, where we would switch on drums and guitar halfway through the set," McWilliams continues. "It was very loose — just riffs and drums."

But it wasn’t until McWilliams (vocals/guitar) and Cangelosi (bass) moved to Chicago in 2015 that they accidentally conjured the sound they’d been seeking. After they recruited percussionist Patrick Dunn and synth player Spencer Ouellette, REZN, in all its stoner-prog heaviness, was born.

“One day we were just riffing on some slow, heavy stuff without really knowing what we were doing, and it ended up being the song ‘Relax,’ which is the first song on our first record [2017’s Let It Burn],” McWilliams explains. “That was what sparked it all. Together we just get into a room and try to write something. [Cangelosi] can finish my musical sentences and vice versa. It’s great.”

The four-piece hasn’t looked back since, going on to release three more albums, including this year's Solace. REZN also teamed up with Mexico City sci-fi rockers Vinnum Sabbathi for a collaboration, Silent Future, that Blues Funeral Recordings is releasing on August 11.

With a name like REZN, it’s easy to pigeonhole the band into the stoner-doom box, but the quartet is so much more. Other than handling synths, Ouellette also plays saxophone, while Dunn regularly dabbles with the sitar. 

“Instrumentation-wise, we tend to go pretty crazy in the studio sometimes, like bringing an arsenal that we don’t necessarily need. It’s fun to mess around with too many instruments,” McWilliams says. “This time [on Solace], we wanted to pare it down and get this essential toolbox of instruments and see what we can make.”

The album cover's visual of a menacing, snow-covered mountain also helped set the sonic tone. “We always kind of do things based around a soundscape, so [for] this one, we were like, ‘A lot of these songs sound grandiose,’” McWilliams says, adding that "the mountain came into view as a good general concept for the record.”

“It's a fun challenge," he says. "Sometimes it’s not necessarily planned.” 

Spontaneous moments fueled Solace, such as when Ouellette, whom McWilliams calls a “wild card” and “chameleon for instrumentation,” first brought his sax to practice, or when he jumped behind a baby grand piano at the Earth Analog studio. “Faded and Fleeting” showcases Ouellette’s expert sax work, which is reminiscent of Pink Floyd's Dick Parry and King Crimson’s Mel Collins and brings a more prog-rock bent to REZN.

“He’s taken us into some other realm,” McWilliams says of Ouellette. “But we’re just having fun writing songs. The band stuff is very important to us, but ultimately it's just four dudes playing music. We’re not going for the glory of fame. We’re just trying to make good music. We’re all on the same page.”

And that's evident throughout the forty minutes of heavy psych on Solace, which is more ethereal than in-your-face. It’s an “intimate-sounding record,” McWilliams says, even “delicate” at times, which “takes it beyond the conventional genre boundaries.”

“I think we’re all trying to get away from your standard, straight-and-narrow doom music. I think we’re trying to branch out and explore just the fusion of things,” he adds.

You can hear it for yourself on Friday, July 7, when REZN plays the hi-dive with Grivo and local opener Oryx. “You’re going to get a little bit of the crushing heaviness and some ethereal, tripped-out excursions into some other progressive parts,” McWilliams says of the group’s live show. “Ultimately, we’re a four-piece rock band at its core.”

But it’s safe to say REZN’s evolution isn’t complete just yet.

“We’re just interested in experimenting and exploring forever,” McWilliams says. “We don’t stay too complacent in one box. We’ll try to keep moving.”

REZN, 9 p.m. Friday, July 7, hi-dive, 7 South Broadway. Tickets are $15-$18.