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"Literally one of the best experimental artists currently making tracks… Layers and layers of experimental-electronic goodness… focus constantly shifts from leads to bridges to the beat and back around again…using sounds in Ableton Live that many others would have difficulty with, but instead forms an analog/virtual opus." -- Women's Radio
Jones slips through the veils of defined sound, weaving cello, violin, woodwinds, rhodes, electronics and sound design through unique instrumentation.
Her tracks have been released with several reputable international labels as Iboga, Spun Records, Aleph Zero, Ultimae, Native State Records and she's celebrating the launch of her new label Cartesian Binary Recordings.
Two of Jones' albums have been chosen in the top 25 essential albums of the year on NPR Echoes Radio in 2006 and in 2009.
Multiple tours around North America and Europe have lead Rena to perform at some of the worlds most established cutting edge electronic music festivals; Glade Festival (UK), The Secret Garden Festival (UK), Shambhala Music Festival (Canada), Lightning in a Bottle as well as tour support for Plaid and opener for Ladytron.
Jones' live sets are a potent sonic session. She orchestrates her violin and cello over hand crafted beats melding the organic with the electronic. Her performance is a sophisticated example of the modern movement in electronic dance and ambient music.
"Multi-instrumentalist and sound engineer Rena Jones is a force to be reckoned with. At age 30, she boasts more than 30 collaborative albums, 3 full length solo albums, 20 years of classical violin study, and 12 years of cello–and she is considered one of the leading women in audio engineering today." -- Strings Magazine
Her extensive background in music and sound covers a colorful spectrum from award winning video games "Dance Dance Revolution and Karaoke Revolution" and for various films as a sound editor, sound design and composition and has nearly a decade of experience as a seasoned studio musician.
"The revered daughter of San Francisco's electronic music scene" -- OEM Radio -- Jones has made a mark on the world of downtempo music.
"It may be ambient but unlike much of the downtempo music around it's certainly not background music."-- Total Music Magazine
Review for Indra's Web Tigon/Headphone Commute
It's not so uncommon to see classically trained pianists turn to electronic music production. After all, it's not a huge stretch from the piano to a midi controller keyboard. It's considerably rarer to find producers who are actually cellists and violinists by training. But Rena Jones is certainly not your garden variety producer. She's a multi-instrumentalist and sound engineer with more than 20 years of classical violin study and 12 years of the cello behind her. That background is reflected in Indra's Web, her fourth solo album and the first on her newly established label, Cartesian Binary Recordings. Indra's Web weaves together weighty downtempo electronica with swooning modern classical, with Jones backed up on more than half of the album by three string players from the New Millennium Orchestra. Jones is also credited with vocals, mixing, programming and Rhodes, and the album also features a live drummer, a clarinetist and a vocalist.
In addition to the graceful strings, the album is marked by a hefty bottom end and gently skittering percussion. And the intricate and spellbinding compositions, which do full justice to the album's name. Indra's Web is a metaphor found in Buddhism and Hinduism for "the structure of reality, representing the interconnectedness and interdependency of all things, describing a rich and diverse universe where infinitely repeated mutual relations exist between all its elements and entities."
That's as good a way as any to describe the music. It immediately grabs hold of you and sucks you in but the songs are not so easily digested on first listen. They're subtle and, like elaborate labyrinths, they take time to reveal themselves. You need to explore the nooks and crannies before you can find your way out. But they're beautiful, enchanted labyrinths, green and flowery, and time moves in hazy slow motion inside them.
I will resist the urge to discuss individual songs (except to say that the one-two punch of On the Drift and Point of Existence is a knockout). Suffice it to say that Indra's Web is an extremely rewarding album and unique in the way it combines beat-driven electronic music with classical moods. It's seamlessly done, blurring completely the lines between genres. It's as good an illustration as any of the inevitable futility of categorizing art. This is simply beautiful music that will endure.
Review for Driftwood: Echoes Radio NPR
"For some reason, cellists--more than any other classical instrumentalists--seem drawn to electronica. Recent CDs by Zoe Keating, Jami Sieber, Hans Christian (Rasa), and Gretchen Yanover find cellists riding electronica atmospheres. Rena Jones is a bit different from most of them. They use electronics to extend their cellos' range and sound. Jones plants her cello next to her laptop in fractalized grooves. Driftwood is an entrancing album that's as much about Jones's translucent laptop compositions as her gifts o, guitar, violin, and clarinet. But all those instruments give her music a different feel from many laptop jockeys. Compositions like "Photosynthesis" and "Driftwood" have an almost classical flow, as her strings and clarinet articulate Arvo Pärt-like lines of liquid inevitability while rhythms pulse, shudder, and ping through the melodies. But it's not all airy on Driftwood. "Open Me Slowly" finds her plucking a cello bass line with a funky grit you can't get with a computer sample. Rena Jones's soulful cello lines lend her music a somber tone and soulful beauty, which is all the more striking when cast against her chromium-plated arrangements. The combination makes Driftwood intoxicating". - John Diliberto, Echoes.org
Review for Driftwood: Regen Magazine
"Gorgeous and so completely alive, Driftwood is a triumph in electronic and classical instrument fusion. String instruments such as violins and cellos are often used in gothic and electronic music as an auditory focus, carrying the tune while backed by abstract melodies and heavy beats, abusing the instruments to force a traditional sound or mood. But San Francisco's multi-talented Rena Jones did something decidedly different when she integrated them into the very soul of every composition. Sometimes as expressive as a voice, the cello will waver above the electronic beats, fluttering and flying as if on a soft breeze. At other times, keyboard loops will tell a story while the violin carries the rhythm like vibrations in a deep pool. Jones calls her musical style "down-tempo sounds from another dimension" and she couldn't be more right. These sounds come from a place where down-tempo doesn't mean sleepy or morose, but can create dreamscapes so vivid that they practically replace the reality that surrounds you. The stimulating "Undercurrent" has a life all its own, toying with the listener and seducing one to come out and play. "The Passing Storm" features a subtle cello duet that hints at gentle longing, while "Seedling" practically illustrates the time-lapse of a budding plant or thought or emotion. And these are only a few of the amazing offerings on Driftwood. Subtle and never over the top, Jones maintains a beautiful mellow vibe that in no way feels forced. You may never look at classical instruments the same again."
Charity VanDeberg - ReGen Magazine.com
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