5&5 with Singer-Songwriter Le Ren
"I grew up on Bowen Island, where we had exactly one video store. The selection was small and oddly specific, which meant we developed a somewhat skewed sense of what a “classic” movie was."
5&5 is back and we’re delighted to feature singer-songwriter Le Ren.
Le Ren is a Canadian folk musician and singer-songwriter based in Montreal, Quebec, originally from Bowen Island. If you haven’t listened to her work, you should do so immediately. Le Ren’s is the kind of voice you don’t forget, mixing her gentle folk with piercing lyrics on love, friendship and heartache.
Her debut album, Leftovers, was one of the best albums of 2021. It’s a stunning collection of songs. Her next album, Don’t Be Funny Without Me, will be released in August this year, and you can read more about it below. She has also released two EP’s, and two albums with folk band, Maybel.
We’re so please to host her on Studio Luce’s 5&5. Have a read of her answers below.
Curated by Ben Davies Crisp
5 That Shaped Me
A Midsummer Night’s Dream
My dad used to read this to my sisters and me when we were little. I loved the faeries, and I especially loved that one of the characters was named Bottom. The Michael Hoffman film adaptation was a highlight because Rupert Everett as Oberon is HOT!! We named our dog after that character, although I’m not sure the hotness factor was the reason.
Les Miserables soundtrack
I listened to the Les Mis CD on repeat when I was a kid and had absolutely no idea what the musical was actually about. I spent countless hours performing “On My Own” around the house. These days, I bring it to karaoke, where it reliably ruins everyone’s night.
The Secret of Roan Inish
I grew up on Bowen Island, where we had exactly one video store. The selection was small and oddly specific, which meant all of us island kids developed a somewhat skewed sense of what a “classic” movie was. In my mind, everyone knows this one, but apparently not. It’s mythical, spooky, and contains a particularly memorable montage of kids repairing an old thatched cottage. 10/10.
You Were Here – Sarah Harmer
A perfect album. I only really *got it* after I was cheated on and listened to “Coffee Stain” over and over:
There’s a coffee stain
Around your eye
And lines that I don’t recognize
Everything changed
From being okay
The night that you came home
So late
Long live S.H. Our Canadian Queen.
Peter Pan book illustrated by Greg Hildebrandt
Around age thirteen, I played Peter at Tír na nÓg theatre school on Bowen Island, and it was a career highlight. Though I love the play most of all, this book was a whole world for me. Every illustration kind of glows.
5 On My Mind
Circe - Madeline Miller
I read this in two days and cried because I missed the main character when I finished. I still think about her. I love how Circe is a background character in the Odyssey and how the author gives her a full life. It’s so descriptive and, dare I say, lyrical. Her other book, The Song of Achilles, is also devastating which I like >:)
Hacks
Just finished this series and now I don’t know what to do with myself. Some of my favourite love stories are between friends, and I think this is a perfect example of that. Hoping for a Schaefer & LuSaque spinoff.
A Song for You
Great bio written by Whitney Houston’s ex-lover, coworker and friend. I liked the photo pages in the middle, more books should have that. I also enjoyed all the descriptions of Robyn watching her sing (i.e., at church or doing the national anthem). “I Wanna Dance With Somebody” is still one of my favourite songs.
Laci Kaye Booth - True Love
This song has been on my mind. I love country music because of the puns and wordplay within the genre, something that is very fun a-chord-ing to me. In this song, the narrator finds out her ex is with someone new and asks, “Is it true love?” But we don’t know if she’s saying TRUE LOVE or “true, love?” Throughout the tune, she plays with that phrase in different ways, but ends with “it’s all true, love.” GOD. I learned it immediately on guitar.
My Nephew
I don’t know if this counts, but I am thinking of him constantly. He’s only a couple of months old and is changing so quickly. My grandma is 101, and I love seeing photos of them side by side. I’m thinking of them both a lot these days.
On Don’t Be Funny Without Me (DBFWM), Le Ren tells us, “I love the man I wanted to be,” as a matter of tender fact. She is funny while devastating, self-aware and a little self-deceiving. Across the record, she holds those contradictions close: shameless and ashamed, honest but still searching for a version of the truth that hurts a little less.
At its core, DBFWM explores love, jealousy, and the uneasy ways the two often intertwine. Across the album, Le Ren reflects on emotional entanglements from her twenties and the lingering push-and-pull between attachment, envy, and self-awareness. The result is a record that is both tender and sharply observant, balancing sincerity with a quiet, self-protective humour. Le Ren, if you didn’t already know, is the funny one.
After touring extensively opening for acts like Jeff Tweedy, Devendra Banhart, and Men I Trust, Le Ren returned to Canada to record the album in Mountain Grove, Ontario. Self-produced alongside old friends Fez Gielen and Jonas Bonetta, DBFWM carries a distinctly Canadian sensibility—Le Ren’s lyrics are imbued with that northern endurance, like watching the sunset fade behind the cracked asphalt on avenue du Parc, or from the parking lot of your favourite On Route. Sonically, DBFWM is more expansive than its predecessor: fuller arrangements, layered harmonies, and driving instrumentation that complement Le Ren’s angelic vocals. The record evokes the warmth of classic influences like Emmylou Harris and the emotional edge of Gillian Welch, while remaining firmly rooted in her own evolving voice.
Don’t Be Funny Without Me ends where it begins: with Le Ren craving an uncomplicated, pure love—something closer to her relationship with music itself. In doing so, she sings her evolving, aspirational self into being. Aching and intoxicating, the record feels like a post-breakup road trip with your best friend: no fixed destination, a trunk full of baggage (literal and figurative) and mottled sunlight warming your face through the car window.
The record is out August 28, 2026.
Ben Davies Crisp is a Californian-based author whose debut short story collection, And So I Took Their Eye, was published in July, 2025. His writing has appeared in Electric Literature, The International Times, Huck, and others.
He serves as an editor for the Ginosko Literary Journal , is a member of the San Francisco Writers Grotto, teaches at California College of the Arts, and is the co-founder and director of Studio Luce, a Guatemalan writing retreat and artist residency.