René Breton finds its music and visual compositions within the vivid and boundless terrain of the subconscious mind. Inspired by imagery from the French surrealist art movements of the early twentieth century, René Breton reaches beyond the current confines of rational thought and geographic boundaries to creatively represent an emergent, modern, cultural movement. Through their surrealist pop music and artistry, the band embraces, supports, and celebrates humanity on a global scale and invites its audience to indulge in unique, yet familiar, melodic experiences within every waking moment.

A chance meeting during a Thornton concert at the Basement in Nashville sparked the creative collaboration of Ryan Hurtgen and Tobin Sio. This spark grew into an inferno of ideas and drive, which saw the duo constructing studios during the day in exchange for recording time by night. Capturing their music on the fly – on a grand piano one night and from the exultant voices of a church choir on another – Hurtgen and Sio chronicled their musical adventure sound byte by sound byte on a portable hard drive. It was during one such impromptu, nocturnal creative session that Hurtgen showed Sio his inspiration for the visions of his songs: “Enlist” – the World War I poster depicting a dead woman embracing her child during the sinking of the Lusitania. It was then that they both realized their compositions had a surreal link to the ethereal, dream quality of these tragic subjects, enveloped in eternal green. It was also at this moment that René Breton was officially formed, and Asleep in Green was conceived.

Asleep In Green is a composite, conceptual experience of insight and sound. Twelve songs, twelve short stories, and twelve drawings meld to take us on a modern, surrealist journey, which represents the subconscious mind during sleep. Visualized by René Breton’s Ryan Hurtgen, Asleep In Green inspires us to delve into the depths of self-reflection without an intended agenda. It invites each of us to get lost in its fantastical ideas of abstract fiction and subjectively experience its creative body as a personalized, waking dream.

Asleep In Green is set for a Spring 2011 release on Fifth Ace Records

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Thoughts sing in the mind of Missouri native, Ryan Hurtgen: They always have. It was something his parents recognized and is also the reason he started guitar lessons early in his youth. In Ryan’s consciousness, every book, philosophy, and work of art reveals movements, melodies, and rhythm. As a result, his mission is to write, orchestrate, play and sing that music for all to enjoy. After earning his Bachelor of Arts in History from the University of Missouri, Ryan brought his creativity south. Settling in Nashville, Tennessee, he found further inspiration in working with the Nashville Ballet, which ultimately proved to be an influential stepping-stone on his path to manifesting the vision and voice of René Breton, which he does with profound grace

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When Ashley Reneau sings, you will believe her. Whether she is reflecting on simpler times, contemplating mortality, or remembering lost love-ones, listeners of her music have no choice but to be thrust into her haunting world of beauty and gloom. When she tells you that life is sad, her heartbreakingly honest delivery will make you forget there was such thing as happiness. Her already beautifully subtle lyrics will become exponentially more understated once you realize that there aren’t words to express the sadnesses coming from that voice. Conversely, when Ashley focuses on life’s simple joys, the unspeakable bleakness that she previously painted so effortlessly will, just as effortlessly no less, become filled with all of nature’s most vibrant colors. Don’t let the voice fool you though. Behind that delivery are uniquely well-crafted and timeless songs that would be just as at home on the radio as they would be in a smoky east-side hole-in-the-wall or, for that matter, a southern church in the 1930s. Ashley’s songs consist of an unclassifiable blend of gospel, folk, and alt-country that makes comparison to other artists a difficult task. Traces of her influences, such as Patty Griffin, Ryan Adams, and Gillian Welch, are vaguely but never explicitly felt throughout her catalogue. Mostly, listener’s of her music will get the feeling that Ashley is not trying to sound like anybody or target any certain audience but is writing exactly what she feels; either that or she is the world’s biggest con-artist. At a time when honesty in music has almost become an oxymoron, it is refreshing to submit yourself to Ashley’s world and remember what it’s like to listen to music and actually feel.