Rebounder is the brainchild of New York native Dylan Chenfeld, specializing in genre-bending nostalgic pop and indie rock—irresistible in the sense that even the coolest Bushwick hipster at the gig can’t help but tap his feet. After seeing Rebounder live at the Mercury Lounge in November, I was hooked on everything about them—their energy, the music, and most impressively—their ability to have me walk away from their set with the enthusiasm of a longtime fan when in reality, thirty minutes prior I had no clue who was about to walk out on stage.

I had the opportunity to sit with Dylan and talk with him about all things A-Z of Rebounder.

What have you been up to in the last month?

We finished up a run of shows with Dayglow, and did one show with Circa Waves and one with Cautious Clay & Remi Wolf. Otherwise, I’ve just been [in the studio] finishing songs, mostly for me but I’ve done a couple of songs for other people. Going out and having no self-control, takes time! I’ve been learning and rushing to finish a bunch of new songs, and that’s been the focus.

Rebounder is the ultimate DIY project. How did it all come to be?

I’ve been a songwriter and musician my whole life and it’s always been the plan. I’ve always wanted to have a band based around the songs that I’ve made, and as time went on, I kept on getting asked to be a touring musician in other bands. I drummed for Yeek and I played guitar in the band Blonder for a while... The whole time I’d be writing songs. My [entire] life I’ve been trying to get the songs I write to sound good. I felt like every year I would save money to go and record them with somebody, and then I would finish and I wouldn’t like how they sounded—so I’d never put them out.

I remember when I first started putting out Rebounder songs everyone was like, “Oh, you make your own songs?”, and I was like, that’s the only thing I’ve done! I only learned the drums to record drums for myself. I only learned guitar to record guitar for myself... I was never trying to be a touring musician or play in a bunch of peoples’ bands. Over time I got okay enough at producing records to where I could produce my own songs. Once I felt as though the recorded music was good enough, I decided to put it out. I’ve made albums of songs that I’m never going to put out...

There are four Rebounder songs that are out, probably fifty that are mastered, and a hundred that are unfinished... The quantity is insane, but I just didn’t think they were good enough—and now I feel that they’re good enough. The plan was always to do it all before doing it in public, so

it’s done the right way. Get back home, start my own thing—which is now called Rebounder—and do it the right way.

What is the biggest thing you’ve learned, either about yourself or musically, since beginning this project?

I learned how to sing. This is the first time I’ve ever sung for anything. I was always the guitar player or the drummer, never the singer. So I had to learn how to sing... Arguably I didn’t... And I learned what I like about songs and what makes me feel connected to songs and artists. In the past, I would write songs I didn’t feel connected to, but I feel like now more than ever I know what I want to do musically—I know what I want to talk about. Everything feels very clear now. And I don’t think I had that before. I feel like now I’m just learning along the way and having a good time.

You do everything for Rebounder yourself. What is something you’re super particular about in the creative process?

I’m the most particular bitch you know, though I don’t do everything. Noah Chenfeld, my brother and bass player, he co-writes some of the songs with me and plays keys on some of the records. I think there is something very stock about how most records sound now... it’s just so easy to record something, but that doesn’t make it great. I’m particular in trying to make sure the palette is not one that is easily identifiable as someone else’s.

The line between something really good... timeless, and something really silly is so thin. I’m so obsessed with new stuff but I’m also so obsessed with old stuff. I want to find a way to make what I believe is good and actual art that I can enjoy today and tomorrow.
It’d be really easy for me to program trap hi-hats on these songs and call it a day. It would also be really easy to write catchy songs that aren’t about anything, or songs that sound cool but aren’t even songs. Those are all legitimate avenues, but I don’t have an interest in any of them. I’m so particular about the sound because I want it to still sound good many years from now. I make decisions to make us sound like what I want the future to sound like.

That, to me, will keep it unique and not like another guy from New York that’s like “Let’s do a Strokes thing!” If I’m not going to do it better than them, why even bother.

So far you’ve released four singles. You said you have hundreds of songs in the works though, so what has made those four “good enough”?

I would be comfortable playing [those four songs] to a stranger—and I have. They tick all the boxes because they have everything I want in a song. I just thought those four songs were really strong, which takes a lot for me to say. Even though the new stuff will sound different, they set the tone for what I believe Rebounder is supposed to sound like. All of those songs are

inspired by real things that have happened to me in life, and real stories from the city, so they just felt natural. They felt right.

With that being said, do you have plans to release a full body of work?

I create like an album-artist. I’m not an album-artist yet, but one day we will be... But, there is a group of five songs that is Rebounder One and there is a group of four songs that is Rebounder Two. The goal is to release a song a month for all of 2020—but all as singles. And then, at the end of the year, unify them into two different EPs that will then tell you when they were made.

I create like an album-artist in the sense that I think about the songs within the context of what we’re trying to create. A lot of people create one by one—I create the body of work, and then I destroy it to give it to you. Hopefully, one day soon, I can put it back together.

You’ve mentioned that you were born and raised in the city. How do you think that plays into the identity of what Rebounder is?

I’ve only ever lived in New York, so when people are like, “What’s it like? How does that color the way you see it?” It doesn’t color the way I see it, it is the way I see it.

I’m sure it impacts how I think about things in many ways. I feel like growing up in New York, even though you don’t know it at the time, you get a good sense of how business and the world works. So maybe that’s why we’re able to do some of the things we’re able to do. You combine the workhorse mentality that we have towards being proficient musicians—everyone in this band is incredible at at least two instruments, with the exception of myself who is incredible at nothing—with a savvy understanding of how shit goes.

We love New York so much, I love New York so much. Whatever we have or will eventually have is because of it. I’m grateful to have grown up here.. it saved me from buying a ticket—I would have come here anyway.

What’s your favorite thing about New York?

You can go anywhere so easily. It’s small as hell. I don’t want any of that big shit.
My favorite thing about New York is you can do ten things in a day—I want to do eleven things in a day. If you live in LA or anywhere else, you’ve done maybe two things, dropped $100 on Uber and then it’s dinnertime! I love that in New York you can bike and skate everywhere—not walk, that’s for fucking herbs. I like the convenience of it all. Because I was raised like that, whenever I leave, I just get antsy. I’m always like, “What’s the plan?” and everyone’s like, “Oh the plan is to chill out and watch this movie.” I’m like, “Wait, what the fuck! Absolutely not!”

Someone has only 24 hours to visit the city—where are you taking them?

Start at Tompkins, because then you’re pretty centrally located. Go to Black Seed Bagels and get yourself a hundred dollar breakfast sandwich because that shit tastes amazing. Or be wiser and don’t eat at all because you can save money that way... I would go Tompkins, and then go to the three galleries left in Chinatown that haven’t moved to Harlem yet. Watch a movie at Metrograph, sneak into the New Museum, shoplift from Whole Foods, and then before you know it it’s time to leave!

What about something to do at night, after you shoplift from Whole Foods?

Oh no, I’m not shoplifting from Whole Foods. That’s what you’re doing. This is what I’m telling the person to do... There’s a great store in Chinatown—they do iPhone repairs and they sell records. I’m really fascinated by them. I want to know if they’re really record store people that were like “Oh, we’re not making money, let’s start fixing iPhones” or if they were like iPhone repair people that were like, “We gotta start selling records!”. Because either way, they went from one to both, and that transition moment is a crazy thing. They were like, “We’ve got this money-losing business right now. You know what we need to do? Tack on another money-losing business!” So, go to the combination iPhone repair and record store, get yourself a fake ass iPhone case and a Lee Hazelwood record, then go to Sam’s Fried Ice Cream and now you’re really doing New York, baby!

If you could claim any song as your own, what would you choose?

A song I’ve been listening to almost every morning is “Jealous Guy” by John Lennon, but the Donny Hathaway cover of it. So it was written by John Lennon, but I’d like to have Donny Hathaway-ed it, because he really did something with that song.

All I have written down here is ‘Bruce Springsteen’ with about ten question marks... Can you explain this obsession?

My fucking king! I’m a massive Springsteen fan. Easily been to thirty plus shows. You don’t need me to tell you, there are enough people talking about him, its as if he is the Bruce Springsteen of songwriting

He’s incredible on every level. I remember talking about Bruce Springsteen, as I often do, and someone said it’s like Bob Dylan and Elvis Presley had a kid, and I thought that was so cool. Everyone wants to make dance music to cry too, but he made songs you can dance too and think too as well.

My old band used to cover “My Love Will Not Let You Down” which sounds like a meme generator made a Springsteen song, and during the Dayglow tour we did a two-minute, synthed out version of “Dancing in the Dark”. I love his career, I love his work—I’m trying to be Springsteen.

There was a period where your live band members were changing frequently, so how did the set lineup come to be?

I started putting out songs, and then people started offering me shows, but there was no band because the recordings and the songs were just me and a little bit of Noah.

So we’d kind of just throw things together to play the shows. The plan was always once we had a second to figure it out to get a set group of people. The plan was always to have Zack be the guitar player because he’s my preschool best friend. Zack is an amazing guitar player, and person, and I remember the day I started putting out songs I was like, “You’re playing guitar for the shows.” He was like, “Yep, 100%, just give me a second.” Then he joined a bit ago.

Noah’s always been consistent as the live bassist and co-singer, since he writes some of the songs with me, and plays keys on some recordings. He’s played every show.

Cobey and I are great friends, and he’s a great drummer. He’s the only one not from New York but we give him a pass because he’s so good at drums. He and I share a strong passion for events.

So now it’s a set lineup of people who really like to play music and have dinner together... the group text is constantly popping. The three of us—Noah, Zack and I—have been a gang our whole lives, now we added Cobey to the gang. It’s nice to have a gang.

What are your hopes for 2020?

I hope we play a lot of shows, write a lot of songs and have a lot of fun. We want to travel around playing music in a really serious way. We’re going to put out at least twelve songs next year which I’m really excited about. I’d just like to have a good time. We have a really good time right now, and I think we’ll continue having an even better time. And then eventually, when Harry Styles needs a guitar player who wears the same shirts as him, I can be that guy.

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