When any band talks reunion, it’s hard for us not to go straight to we’ll-believe-it-when-we-see-it mode. We’ve been burned too many times. But apparently we haven’t learned our lesson enough with The Wrens, because they’re recording again, and we can’t help but believe it’ll last.
They’ve got a new song, a new web site and promises of an album. And hey, if it doesn’t pan out, at least you can buy a commemorative tee shirt to mark that time we really thought The Wrens were going to go for it. Of course, we hope they really do — it’s been 10 years since the band made music together, and as they noted on their web site (”We hope your ’90s were good”) a lot has happened since then.
Besides that 10-year marker, 2009 also marks the band’s 20th anniversary. There couldn’t be a better time to make good on the promises we’ve heard before and give us some new music. The Wrens’ label Absolutely Kosher says the album is scheduled for release in late spring. “And by ’scheduled,’ we mean … fingers crossed.”
Their optimism doesn’t inspire a whole lot of confidence, but their new single gives us glimmers of hope that this is all really happening. “Pulled Fences” was recorded at the famous Abbey Road Studios in London, and is available for purchase now via The Wrens’ site as well as Absolutely Kosher and iTunes.
So Kev wrote down the chords for one of his demo songs (which was just recently released as ‘In Turkish Waters’ for the Fake Bookshelf issue of the nifty Australian magazine, The Lifted Brow), and what you hear on the single is the first run-through of a song the rest of us hadn’t heard. …
The recording itself was also something of a low-wire act in that it’s a song of Kev’s that none of the rest of us had ever heard or played before. So what you hear on the single is us – also hearing the song for the first time – trying to fake-up some coherent parts while scrutinizing chords scribbled on notepaper like unprepared schoolchildren on test day, all while wearing ill-fitting – yet stylish – headphones. That it came out even half-ok, you’re also hearing us getting lucky.
The guys say that the single and the new site are all part of the kick-in-the-pants they’re giving themselves to get going on the new album. They’ve even set a date — Monday, Jan. 19 they will be back in the studio working on the long-awaited follow-up to The Meadowlands. They also promise that they’ll see us in Austin in March (for SXSW, for those not following along at home). We’ll mark it on our calendars in pencil. For now.
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