By Hunter Craighill and Griffin Leach

The brothers Noah and Dylan Chenfeld of New York City have both grown their discography this month with Rebounder’s September 3rd release of the single and music video “Night Sports,” and Noah Chenfeld’s release of the single “Orioles” earlier today. 

 The September 3rd release of “Night Sports,” co written by Dylan and Noah, revolves mostly around the intoxicated blur of nights on the town in pre-COVID New York City. As Dylan describes, “My brother Noah and I wrote and produced this song before social distancing was a thing, at the time we were going out too much that it was starting to seem like a problem, or maybe a sport.” 

The fun, upbeat song features a funky guitar and bass conversation underneath an airy synth lead line. The lyrics of the chorus “are we just masquerading / sometimes if feels we’re in a dream / no I won’t stop complaining” resonates now even more than when it was written, as fun nights in New York really do feel like some dream of the distant past, and “masquerade” takes on a completely different meaning. 

The video reflects this drunken blur in a cinematographic collage of different clips featuring the two and their high profile friends participating in various escapades about the City. The light hearted, choppy vibe of the video is reminiscent of a time less serious than now, when crowded clubs and packed concerts were looked at with excitement rather than disdain. 

In contrast to the happy-go-lucky manner in which “Night Sports” was composed, Noah’s release of “Orioles” today proves to have been written in a more reflective state. After a mid- quarantine run, Noah Chenfeld began to hear the intentionally melodic, and specific chirping of birds. With his post-run mental clarity, the inspiration for his new tune, “Orioles,” made its way in.  

The veteran New York artist released his single today on all major streaming platforms, a brand new addition to his established contemporary pop-rock catalogue. As a recently affixed musician exploring new sounds, Noah contrasts some of his jangly guitar driven sounds that can be heard in tracks like, “Boston” and “I Love Being Tired” and returns to a synth based heartfelt pop melody. 

The two avian influenced notes from the synth open the track that then wastes no time jumping right into its upbeat rhythm. An understated guitar melody and background keyboard display his wall to wall experience with bedroom pop, but the synth then makes its way to the front of the track and makes for a more purposefully polished tune.  

Noah has difficulty expressing his motives, real or fake, which again draw on the birds by their chirping in a language that can’t be understood. Despite his best intentions to make things right, his inability to communicate obscures what he feels he is trying to convey. To Noah, without ambiguity, “communication can save the world,” but even when it is pretty like the chirping of birds, its meaning is often lost. 

Based on the talent of the two young artists and the crowd they run with (the “Night Sports” video features clips of Maggie Rogers, Cautious Clay, and other young stars romping about the city), both Noah and Dylan Chenfeld have the potential to graduate from the small scale indie-pop scene into more mainstream prominence in the very near future. It will be interesting to see where their individual careers take them from here, and whether they continue to work together or take their own individual paths.