A brief biography of Philadelphia photographic and musical artist Bruce Reinfeld 

His band and new album: HiFi Disco’s: Analog Style for a Digital World 

(2012, produced by Brian McTear) 

  

  

In The Secret Life of Walter Mitty the title character transforms and transplants him self 

into any manner of circumstance and location through dreamlike whimsy. 

  

Bruce Reinfeld could be Walter Mitty if he really wanted to. 

  

At first glance and listen, the Philadelphia photographer, graphic artist and 

musician/composer/singer that fronts HiFi Disco (short for High Fidelity Distribution 

Co., like MGMT is with Management) doesn’t initially seem like the whimsical kind. 

  

The images that litter his prints, tiles and t-shirts are culled from miles of driving through 

backwater towns and along interstate highways and are focused, journalistic and frank. 

  

The well-heeled lyrics that infiltrate his buoyant brand of pop are ruminative and straight 

forward, poetic yet never fussy. 

  

Yet for all this blunt force, there is a capriciousness that belies his lighthearted 

lightheaded sense of play and humor. 

  

As a photographer, Reinfeld calls what he does “analog style for a digital world.” Then 

again, that’s what Reinfeld calls his new album. So that’s funny. 

  

Working with 35mm film bodies and $25 plastic Brownie cameras – along with infrared 

film and black & white stock in 35mm and 120mm format – Reinfeld captures the 

everyday. His songs do this as well. 

  

Photographically it is wrecked train tracks, battered sculptures, creaky barns, bruised 

busses, dime store Elvis impersonators and the wretched likes that are his subjects. The 

photographs are non-manipulated and never staged or set up. Onto this, Reinfeld adds a 

gently silly different perspective. “With a decade of traditional hand coloring under my 

belt, I now airbrush the color onto each image digitally because of the detail that can be 

obtained,” says Reinfeld. This gives each black & white work a surrealist burst of Pop 

color that makes the image Reinfeld has captured come vibrantly alive and merges the 

beauty and sadness in his art with seamless elegance. “People often view my photography 

and see everyday subjects beautified with bright colors - they look at my work and 

smile... and really never see the real photo, the desolation, isolation, and loneliness. I see 

the destruction of beauty in the name of progress, a reflection of me or at least the “me” 

that I was when I shot the photo.” Reinfeld claims it is that the same brand of reflection – 

the “me” that I was then – that fuels his songwriting. 

  

It is these self-reflective photographic images – that “me then” brand - that have found 

Reinfeld successfully spinning throughout the country at various galleries, pop up shops 

and festival showings such as Art Basel; tours that also result in more impromptu photo 

sessions. And so on and so on.  “I live and work in a warehouse in Philadelphia but stay 

mostly half the year in hotels, traveling in a monster Mercedes euro van that kicks ass,” 

says Reinfeld. When discussing the notion of location scouting, the photographer says he 

gets in the van, stays off main roads, and “if someone tells me of a great place to take 

photos, I listen politely, make pretend I give a shit...then never go there.” 

Reinfeld has a line of products – t-shits, tiles and coasters - called “Jews Kick Ass” that 

features Jesus and several top tier Jewish celebs from Bob Dylan to Henry Winkler. 

Many of his highly graphic t-shirts (his Jesus on a motorcycle and rasta ragamuffin 

designs) have made their way onto the torsos of Drew Barrymore, Dave Grohl, Pharell 

Williams and G.Love. How they got there is unknown and we are currently looking in to 

this phenomenon. “After photography led me into computers/graphic design and putting 

my art/designs on clothing, I dove into the apparel business and rode that wave.” Reinfeld 

has always been lucky in business. Maybe that’s because he graduated from Penn State 

with a business degree. Reinfeld has his work shown in single artist gallery presentations 

right out of school, before going on to design a successful clothing line and selling his 

designs and his photos through his High Fidelity Distribution Company. Then again, 

that’s the name of his band. So that’s funny. 

Riding the wave means probing the flow through to its peak. It’s a natural leap that is 

without barrier or boundary. Music and photography may be different beasts but they’re 

symbiotic and symmetrical to Reinfeld even if they weren’t always exactly equitable.. “I 

think the skill set for everything I do is kind of tied together like a tree and its roots. 

Some roots are bigger then others but they are all connected. They have to be or it is not 

real.” 

  

He doesn’t take that many photos or write that many songs, weeding out the photos that 

are not where they should be, tearing down the songs that don’t say or sound exactly 

what and how they should. “I’m way worse about that editing process with my music 

than I am taking pictures because the writing process is not as structured as photography 

and it is way harder to write a decent song...way harder.” 

  

The guitar that Reinfeld – a Philadelphia University of the Arts student who spent time at 

NYU - picked up the same time as the camera gave him a less-than- instantaneous 

sensation. Still something was there. Then something more was there. He had a band 

called Polar Creep was weirdly rocking and ruminative. Then he stopped. Now he has a 

band, HiFiDisco that’s oddly popping, contagious and ruminative that will not stop. It 

can’t be stopped. “I waited a long time for these songs,” says Reinfeld of music fueled 

with hints of Springsteen, OK Go and My Bloody Valentine splashed across Analog Style 

in a Digital World ‘s wall of sound 

  

There’s a spirited trajectory to Analog Style in a Digital World that can’t be slowed or 

stymied.   

Part of that comes down to the barreling-forward sound of HiFi Disco and the ten songs 

penned by Reinfeld. 

  

“Why” was written on piano (“it started out prettier”) and is about how feelings and 

friendships change on a dime. “I Wanna Know” looks at desperation at its worst while 

acting nonchalantly at your best. Desperation rears its ugly head again on the stalker-ish 

“This Time” (“and knowing exactly why they are doing it, because you have been there 

before”). “Next Girlfriend” is a catchy 3 minute song written in 5 minutes about 

eventually looking for long haul romance. “Meant 2 B Broken” pictures love as a crash- 

and-burn rollercoaster ride. “Great Big Hole” is a yearning rocker that was the easiest to 

write and hardest to sing for Reinfeld. “Faith” wasn’t any easier as it found Reinfeld 

talking about the disgust of child abuse. “Miss Labor Day” started as a challenge from a 

friend to write a song about a holiday and got turned into a “dwelling on the past/hoping 

for the future” slice of dream pop. 

  

Part of that comes down to the band and producer that Reinfeld has assembled to work on 

his newest songs of woe and wonder. 

Brian McTear has produced a glut of the most important records to come out of 

Philadelphia from the likes of Burning Brides, Capitol Years, Matt Pond PA and his own 

Bitter Bitter Weeks. Reinfeld had long wanted to work with McTear. The music of 

Analog Style for a Digital World required the enigmatic producer’s dreamy services. 

“The songs were too important to me and Brian has the ability to make each song have a 

life of each own while keeping an overall tone to the project,” says Reinfeld. “It was 

great working with someone that loved what we were doing.”  The “we” Reinfeld is 

talking about is a “who’s who” band of Philadelphia indie musicians who have made 

their mark on differing brands of pop. “I wanted to work with people ho I knew but were 

not familiar with my music,” “say Reinfeld. The Jealous Type’s Tommy Ciccone played 

bass and guitars that veered from his usual brand of power pop. “Brian and I kept 

handing him slides and hooked him up to an Echoplex, so the phrase "more Petty, less 

Skynard " was born.” Drummer Patrick Berkery was a long time Bigger Lover whose 

albums had been produced by McTear. “When the sessions started it was like we 

had played together our whole lives,” says Reinfeld. “Especially when Brian added all 

kind of tasty stuff from a upright piano, B-3 organ, and a Fender Rhodes. Reinfeld is 

talking about Brian Christinzio of B.C. Camplight fame who acted as the project’s sonic 

glue gun. 

  

But HiFi Disco is Bruce Reinfeld, front, center and simple, and there is an emotional 

attachment to the songs of Analog Style for a Digital World that gradually eroded over 

time to become just words and loud guitars. “It’s like throwing a party to honor the death 

of a friend,” says Reinfeld. Pretty colors and melodies that cover up what lies beneath the 

surface...kinda like my photographs.” 

  

Bruce Reinfeld just doesn’t get the idea of barriers.