Yesterday, The Wrens’ Kevin Whelan announced via The New York Times that he had started a new Wrens-ish (but not The Wrens) project called Aeon Station. The new project also comprises Wrens members Greg Whelan and Jerry MacDonald (but not Charles Bissell) and essentially consists of five remixed songs from the long-awaited The Meadowlands follow-up and five brand-new tracks. Together, the 10 tracks are being released under the album title Observatory on December 10 via Sub Pop.
Now, Whelan has shared the project’s first song, “Queens.” The five-minute single starts off slowly but locks into place with crashing percussion and hard-driving guitar. From a sonic perspective, it’s quite the “we’re back” proclamation.
“This song was inspired by one of my all-time favorite songs, ‘The Winner Takes it All’ by ABBA,” Whelan shared in a press release. “It’s about betting on the real you. Like a game of high-stakes poker, you push all your chips to the center of the table and aren’t afraid to go ‘all in.’ It starts with a solo vocal, framing the story to come, the drums then propel the song forward, with a force working its way to a climax of a repeating line: You said it was all in.'”
Listen to “Queens” above. Observatory drops on 12/10 via Sub Pop. Pre-order it here.
