Album: The Meadowlands
Artist: The Wrens
Two of my favourite songs on the record, the bitter and rocking Everyone Choose Sides and the mellow but anguished She Sends Kisses, demonstrate the wide range of styles found on the album. This versatility, as well as the brilliant sequencing, are two of the The Meadowlands' main strengths. She Sends Kisses has the emotional intensity of some of the indie rock songs I enjoyed in my teenage years, from The Wallflowers' 6th Avenue Heartache to Counting Crows' Round Here. Like many of the songs, it's full of great snippets of poetry ("hopes pinned to poses honed in men’s room mirrors") and vivid imagery. Other musical styles on the record include the alt country sound of 13 Months in 6 Minutes, a song that obviously evolved over a long period, and the new wave influenced Faster Gun. The songwriting is brilliant throughout, with early tracks like Happy revealing a dark emotional undertow ("I’m so sick of you, what we went through / your lies to me won’t win again / so don’t kid yourself it’s better this way"), on a song powered along by a Pixies-style bassline. Other standout tracks are the nostalgic beauty of Ex-Girl Collection, the epic but defeated Hopeless and the ramshackle glory of Thirteen Grand. Album closer This Is Not What You Had Planned, like the opening song, clocks in at just over a minute, and ends the album on a triumphant but bitter note. Like many fans, I can't wait to hear the next instalment, now more than a decade later.
Born: Secaucus, New Jersey
Released: September 2003
Genre: Indie Rock
US and Canadian indie music enjoyed a real revival around the turn of the century. Influenced by The Pixies and Hüsker Dü, The Wrens -- along with peers such as The Dismemberment Plan (notably their 1999 release, Emergency & I) -- helped to pioneer a more intricate, developed indie sound compared to the lo-fi approach of Pavement. In turn, this high-energy, "stop, start" ethic would inspire other indie bands like Arcade Fire, who are big admirers of The Meadowlands. In a weird coincidence, The Wrens started out calling themselves Low, not realising there was another indie band of the same name, also taking indie music in a very unique direction. In some respects, The Wrens were very traditional; compared to The Pixies, or Radiohead say, the group's lyrical concerns were far more conventional: heartbreak. What's original about the band, and something I've come to appreciate more as I've grown older, is their perspective of middle-age disappointment in a pop idiom obsessed with teenage concerns. The fall-out from broken relationships is the dominant theme of The Meadowlands, and the album is far more mellow and reflective than their previous record, Secaucus, a riotous LP released long before in the mid-90s. The story of why it took so long for The Wrens to release their third album is worthy of a blog in itself (this article explains why it's taken so long for the band to release their fourth album, expected later in 2014). For a band that started out in 1991, when Kevin Whelan, his brother Greg, guitarist Charles Bissell and drummer Jerry MacDonald decided to purchase a house together in Secaucus, four albums in over 20 years isn't exactly highly productive, but that speaks to the fact they're all family men holding down full-time jobs. Despite major label interest, in fact it was the band’s long-time friend and fan, Cory Brown, who released The Meadowlands on his own record label, Absolutely Kosher. For a small indie operation, the record was a huge success and allowed the band to briefly taste fame in their mid-30s.
US and Canadian indie music enjoyed a real revival around the turn of the century. Influenced by The Pixies and Hüsker Dü, The Wrens -- along with peers such as The Dismemberment Plan (notably their 1999 release, Emergency & I) -- helped to pioneer a more intricate, developed indie sound compared to the lo-fi approach of Pavement. In turn, this high-energy, "stop, start" ethic would inspire other indie bands like Arcade Fire, who are big admirers of The Meadowlands. In a weird coincidence, The Wrens started out calling themselves Low, not realising there was another indie band of the same name, also taking indie music in a very unique direction. In some respects, The Wrens were very traditional; compared to The Pixies, or Radiohead say, the group's lyrical concerns were far more conventional: heartbreak. What's original about the band, and something I've come to appreciate more as I've grown older, is their perspective of middle-age disappointment in a pop idiom obsessed with teenage concerns. The fall-out from broken relationships is the dominant theme of The Meadowlands, and the album is far more mellow and reflective than their previous record, Secaucus, a riotous LP released long before in the mid-90s. The story of why it took so long for The Wrens to release their third album is worthy of a blog in itself (this article explains why it's taken so long for the band to release their fourth album, expected later in 2014). For a band that started out in 1991, when Kevin Whelan, his brother Greg, guitarist Charles Bissell and drummer Jerry MacDonald decided to purchase a house together in Secaucus, four albums in over 20 years isn't exactly highly productive, but that speaks to the fact they're all family men holding down full-time jobs. Despite major label interest, in fact it was the band’s long-time friend and fan, Cory Brown, who released The Meadowlands on his own record label, Absolutely Kosher. For a small indie operation, the record was a huge success and allowed the band to briefly taste fame in their mid-30s.
Two of my favourite songs on the record, the bitter and rocking Everyone Choose Sides and the mellow but anguished She Sends Kisses, demonstrate the wide range of styles found on the album. This versatility, as well as the brilliant sequencing, are two of the The Meadowlands' main strengths. She Sends Kisses has the emotional intensity of some of the indie rock songs I enjoyed in my teenage years, from The Wallflowers' 6th Avenue Heartache to Counting Crows' Round Here. Like many of the songs, it's full of great snippets of poetry ("hopes pinned to poses honed in men’s room mirrors") and vivid imagery. Other musical styles on the record include the alt country sound of 13 Months in 6 Minutes, a song that obviously evolved over a long period, and the new wave influenced Faster Gun. The songwriting is brilliant throughout, with early tracks like Happy revealing a dark emotional undertow ("I’m so sick of you, what we went through / your lies to me won’t win again / so don’t kid yourself it’s better this way"), on a song powered along by a Pixies-style bassline. Other standout tracks are the nostalgic beauty of Ex-Girl Collection, the epic but defeated Hopeless and the ramshackle glory of Thirteen Grand. Album closer This Is Not What You Had Planned, like the opening song, clocks in at just over a minute, and ends the album on a triumphant but bitter note. Like many fans, I can't wait to hear the next instalment, now more than a decade later.
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