Labels: Grass
Review by: Andy Malcolm
Ok, ok, so reviews pages aren’t supposed to cover material released almost 2 years ago, but every now and again we do dig deep into the mists of time, having chanced upon a hidden gem that we previously knew nothing about, which is the case here. Apologies (and respect!) if you already know the Wrens, but this in album worth making some fuss about.
The word ‘varied’ was coined with this album in mind. 19 tracks, flung together in one place, often sharing the same magnificent pop rock feel and versatile flowing harmonies, yet never quite doing the same thing twice. You’d expect a vaguely commercial feel to a band like this, but its difficult to detect it at times, as the Wrens pile layer upon layer into the songs, without ever over-doing it, and every now and again sabotage their perfectness with something unexpected. Billed as a blend between the Beatles and the Pixies, those influences are there to be seen, but there is infinitely more to this band than what you get from that one liner.
Its go from the start with “Yellow Number Three”, a jumble of guitars and vocals that initially appears terribly off-kilter. Rides the line between a mess and a good little tune, but only just.
And then there is the likes of “Built in Girls”. Glorious pop-rock with soaring harmonies, and hundreds of things going on at once. Its with songs like this “I Married Sonja” and “Surprise, Honeycomb” that the Wrens really score with. Beautifully melodic, with attention to detail, squeezing more into a song than you’d have thought possible. The wonderfully toe-tapping “Hats Off To Marriage” starts off with some great “scratchy” guitars, and then fires on into another top-notch tune that ups the tempo once more.
But as I mentioned before, there is more to this band than just genius-pop. Accoustic tracks such as “Won’t Get Too Far” break the album up nicely, and the vocals on the hauntingly slow “Jane Fakes A Hug” are very Beach Boys-esque. But just wait till the weirdy ending for this one. Yikes! And its little touches with things like backing vocals that make the tracks, and give the band their originality. They dabble with piano on the magnificently quirky and hyper-active “Indie 500”, and start and finish “Joneses Rule of Sport” with freaky distortion. “Destruction / Drawn” is frankly bizarre, with two acoustic songs being sung at the same time. Enough to cause your brain to melt.
High point is the unmissable “Rest Your Head”. An unfeasibly up-lifting piece of punky pop-rock-a-rama. Irresistible. This is available as a single, so shell out if you see it, and don’t want to risk trying out the album.
There are a couple of things wrong with the album, perhaps the band try to be a bit too clever at times, and the vocals aren’t always audible behind the layers of sound they’re constructing. And its almost upsetting to hear them intentionally wreck their own song, “Luxury”, by slapping a big “noise” in right at the end, and then bringing the vocals back at a quieter volume.
The band are lyrically intelligent too, though a number of the songs appear to be about marriage! Quite an oddity. Production isn’t at its best, what with the album being recorded in a home studio, you have to wonder what better production might have done to this.
The album does take a bit of work to get in to initially, and its not without fault, with 19 tracks on its difficult for it to be completely instant, but perseverance will see it win through. Miss this, and remain forever innocent.