Naperville teen's original sound comes together on first EP

Alexandra Renee has been putting her music out there for years - in choirs, violin recitals, impromptu concerts - always fleeting in form, audio only.

With “Little Things,” that has changed.

Alexandra, 16, released her first five songs as an EP, or extended play CD, by that title in July. At debut performances at Quigley's Irish Pub in Naperville and at the Iowa State Fair in Des Moines, she's played those five original tracks and others, working to build a fan base beyond her family and friends.

“It's been cool to give my CD out to people,” she says, relishing the ability of doling out something tangible, a way for listeners to relive her sound in more than just one moment.

Not too many 16-year-olds can say that.

Alexandra, a junior at Waubonsie Valley High School in Aurora, is letting the sound guide her way as she plans to release a few singles, then maybe another five-track EP. For this up-and-coming singer, songwriter and guitarist, “Little Things” is a first step to see how far she'll follow along the path of several professional musicians in her family, or how much she'll chart her own course.

'Little' beginnings

Alexandra started dancing when she was 3, catching the showbiz bug early and always loving the thrill of performing art. She comes from a family with a professional violinist and a songwriter for aunts, as well as a grandpa, uncles and a great aunt who all perform music regularly.

From dancing, Alexandra's performances shifted to violin, concert choir, show choir and writing songs for the fun of it - not words first then melody or sound first then lyrics, but both components at the same time.

“When I started playing guitar, it all came together a lot more,” Alexandra said.

That was three years ago, at age 13.

Growing to record

Since then, she's had the help of her parents, Courtney and Steve Bruner, and her producers, Devin Rodarte and Charlie Dresser of Sound Summit Studios.

Her parents shuttled her to voice lessons and recording sessions at Place in the Trees studio in Naperville, where Sound Summit is renting space before opening its own location, until she recently got her driver's license.

“We're trying to help her find that balance between school and doing what she's passionate about, which is music,” her mother said.

Her producers listened to her ideas for the songs on “Little Things” and found musical ways to make them come together. Or, as Rodarte puts it, to “make noise 'til it sounds good.”

On the EP, Rodarte accompanies Alexandra's acoustic guitar with some strumming of his own. Dresser adds the drumbeat, even getting creative with instruments like an “egg shaker,” literally a pink Easter egg filled with small shifting pieces that make a shaking sound.

“Alex felt comfortable with them immediately, and it has been a perfect fit,” her mother said about her daughter's producers. “They treat her as an artist, not as a teenager who needs direction, and always ask her what she envisions for each song.”

Recording 'Things'

Alexandra doesn't always answer.

“He wants to know what all my songs are about,” she said about Rodarte. “And I don't always tell him.”

There's an element of personal choice Alexandra says she wants to leave for listeners to arrive at their own meaning for her music. She's inspired by her friends and classmates and the everyday observances she makes about life, but she wants these “Little Things” to take on fresh significance for each new fan she gains.

“It's the way you smile at me, it's the way you laugh,” she sings in the title song's chorus. “It's the way you make mistakes but never would go back.”

Her producers say Alexandra Renee, whose stage name is her given first and middle names, is a “versatile” artist whose sound can blend with the trends of any era.

“It's got a timeless quality,” Dresser said. “It was fun to create.”

Alexandra says she's an artist and marine biology enthusiast who's excited for what the future will bring. College, she assumes, will include making music in some form, following the same creative process she employed to develop her first solo release.

“To hear it all come together,” she says about the songs on her first EP, “and hear it take on the sound that's become my sound was so great.”