R.I.P. Resplendent, 2002-2005

While working as a DJ at WLUW, I was exposed to numerous recordings from local bands and musicians. However, there was one local artist in particular that I was always intrigued by...Resplendent. For starters, it wasn't your typical Chicago rawk...it was stark, atmospheric, and a even bit experimental at times. Certainly still classifiable as rock, but not the usual guitars/drums/bass and loud vocals that seemed to be so pervasive in WLUW's local music library. Nothing against any local musicians who revel in turning it up to '11,' but it was refreshing to actually hear something different from a local rock artist. Second, I had been following the local music scene pretty closely for a couple of years, yet I had never heard anything about this Resplendent. I never saw him listed in any upcoming shows and never read about him in the Reader or any of the other numerous local arts publications. There was a review on one of the CDs at the station that said that he used to be in a band called Fire Show, but that was about the only thing I really knew about him. Hell, even the liner notes didn't say much...the song titles were listed in small print on a really small piece of paper and that was about all that was included with his records. The composer was listed as M. Lenzi and the label was Mixx Tape Records. The music was as good as just about anything else new I had heard on any local or national record label, yet the entire production seemed to be self-released. Eventually I left WLUW and admittedly sort of forgot about Resplendent for a while. Then, in January, a friend of mine at the station told me that a new Resplendent release had come in. Naturally, I was looking forward to hearing the new record, but this time I was determined to actually find out who was this mysterious artist behind these records. I had still never seen anything written about him or his releases, so it seemed like an ideal story to pursue for Radio Free Chicago. After a quick Google search the next day, I found that Resplendent now had a complete website up and running. There was a full discography and a decent amount of bio info, but I still wanted to get more insight about the artist...so I dropped him a line to set up an interview for RFC. We corresponded a couple of times and eventually set up an interview date. Then, about a week or two before we had planned to meet, I received a message from Resplendent asking if I was coming to his "one and only" performance at The Hideout. I was a bit confused by this because... 1. I didn't remember reading anything about any upcoming gig on his website before 2. What did he mean by "one and only" show? So, I went back to the website right away to try to figure out how I missed the show listing the first time, and the first thing I see is: "R.I.P. Resplendent, 2003-2005." Now I knew I didn't see that the first time, so I was at least reassured that my mind wasn't completely slipping...but what was the R.I.P. business???? It figures, I find a new local artist that I think is really great and unique and his career is done before I even get a chance to do an interview. Luckily, while the music of Resplendent may have come and gone without many in Chicago even knowing it, the man behind the moniker is still alive and well and already looking forward to his next project. I finally caught up with the artist (formerly) known as Resplendent after his final (and only) Chicago performance and found out that there is still plenty more musical fire left in this local (and dare I say, underrated) musician. Stay tuned later this week to RFC for my complete interview with Michael Lenzi, aka Resplendent. In the meantime, go to www.resplendentmusic.com to hear a download from his latest release and check out the links to the reviews of his past releases.