{"id":216,"date":"2022-02-06T22:59:52","date_gmt":"2022-02-07T03:59:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.richbradley.org\/songs\/?p=216"},"modified":"2022-02-07T22:17:13","modified_gmt":"2022-02-08T03:17:13","slug":"hold-on-reading-ambiguity","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.richbradley.org\/songs\/new\/hold-on-reading-ambiguity\/","title":{"rendered":"\u201cHold On\u201d \u2013 Aeon Station \/ \u201cThree Types of Reading Ambiguity\u201d \u2013 The Wrens"},"content":{"rendered":"
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\u201cHold On\u201d is a peculiar choice for a leadoff track. Observatory<\/em> is also a peculiar debut \u2013 its artist, Aeon Station, was unknown until Sub Pop announced Observatory<\/em> last fall, and no one was more surprised to learn about the album than Charles Bissell, one of its credited engineers.<\/p>\n

The album\u2019s entire rollout has been notably weird. Observatory<\/em> has received prominent coverage in The New York Times<\/em><\/a> and The Guardian<\/em><\/a>, despite Aeon Station being an unfamiliar name. The bulk of this coverage has focused on the narrative around Observatory\u2019s<\/em> inception \u2013 of indie band The Wrens violently fracturing nearly two decades after the release of their last album, 2003\u2019s critically acclaimed The Meadowlands;<\/em> of a handful of songs by Wrens bassist Kevin Whelan sitting in limbo for many of those years, while guitarist Bissell worked to complete the band\u2019s next record in his home studio; and of Whelan\u2019s patience running out after COVID hit, leading him to release his music on his own terms.<\/p>\n

Now instead of the long-awaited fourth Wrens LP, fans have Observatory,<\/em> which is a collection of songs by Kevin Whelan alone. Some were recorded ten years ago, while the rest happened quickly in 2021. Aeon Station is referred to in press materials both as a solo project and a band, as Observatory features contributions from two other Wrens (drummer Jerry MacDonald and guitarist\/Kevin\u2019s brother Greg Whelan), both of whom are set to perform live with Kevin under the Aeon Station name in just a few weeks. Charles Bissell, the odd Wren out, will see his own solo album released by Sub Pop under a different name yet to be announced.<\/p>\n

There\u2019s nothing unusual about a band imploding, even this many years in (see Lindsey Buckingham\u2019s dramatic expulsion from Fleetwood Mac<\/a> in 2018). But there are unique factors with the Wrens, starting with Bissell effectively managing all things associated with the band\u2019s name for the last decade-plus. Not only has completing the now never-to-be-released album sat entirely in his hands, he has also maintained an active online presence under the Wrens\u2019 social channels, occasionally sharing new audio snippets with fans and even inviting a few to his Brooklyn home (myself included, back in November 2016 \u2013 more on that later) to hear the album in various stages of completion.<\/p>\n

At times throughout the years, Charles has sounded more excited about non-traditional rollout ideas for the album than about finishing the music itself, even considering auctioning off his home studio<\/a> plus all related equipment and audio files as the sole \u201coriginal\u201d version of the record. Increasingly, the Wrens seemed to have become one man\u2019s art project; now suddenly, he\u2019s the only Wren without a band.<\/p>\n

The most recent (and presumably final) official release under the Wrens name is a song called \u201cThree Types of Reading Ambiguity,\u201d which appeared on a limited edition cassette<\/a> available to subscribers of the now-defunct ESOPUS Magazine<\/em> in 2015. Bissell generously gave me a copy during my visit, and \u201cReading\u201d is unmistakably his creation (as is the conceptual execution and format) \u2013 but Kevin Whelan is present on the track, to a degree that I have to assume means the track will only be a part of Bissell\u2019s upcoming solo LP in a significantly altered form.<\/p>\n

On their early records, back when the Wrens seemed like they might ascend to next-big-thing status, the contrast between the two lead singer-songwriters was central to their appeal. Bissell\u2019s vocal style evoked Bob Mould, and he effectively played the role of the band\u2019s cerebral art-rock guru. His songs typically balanced sharply-honed melodicism with smart and self-effacing lyrics, and he was largely responsible for the band\u2019s trademark rapid-fire, dissonant guitar parts.<\/p>\n

If Bissell was college rock, Whelan was something closer to hardcore, hurling his bass at the crowd from center stage and pounding his keyboard with manic intensity. Kevin\u2019s vocal style straddled unabashed glam and power pop, and his songs had swagger. It\u2019s easy to hear how record labels eager to capitalize on the \u201890s alt rock boom might have dreamed on Whelan as their next Scott Weiland or Gavin Rossdale, but Whelan offered more substance and vitality than most frontmen of the era.<\/p>\n

The Wrens\u2019 sophomore LP, 1996\u2019s absurdly underappreciated Secaucus,<\/em> shows both Bissell and Whelan at the height of their powers. Hear the virtuosic range Charles covers between tracks like the hyper, Sugar-like \u201cHats Off to Marriage, Baby<\/a>\u201d and the poignant, Brian Wilson-influenced \u201cJane Fakes a Hug<\/a>,\u201d and hear how confidently Kevin sells the Roxy Music groove of \u201cBuilt In Girls<\/a>\u201d and the theatrical bombast of \u201cStill Complaining<\/a>.\u201d<\/p>\n

As the band\u2019s success dreams fell apart at the millennium\u2019s end, Whelan and Bissell\u2019s respective sounds evolved into something new and even more complementary. While Charles continued down the path of increasingly ambitious pop compositions and arrangements, Kevin shifted his core sound from glam toward emo. The Meadowlands<\/em> presented an older, more jaded Wrens, with both songwriters looking back at lost opportunities and forward to an uncertain future. This is best illustrated on fan favorite \u201cHopeless<\/a>,\u201d where Whelan\u2019s pained, accusatory verses build toward a cathartic and downright catchy hook of a chorus penned by Bissell. \u201cHopeless\u201d remains the songwriters\u2019 finest truly collaborative achievement, and it also stands as a reminder of what fans could have had if the Wrens had gotten the chances they deserved in their prime.<\/p>\n

Then came the long wait. For all the stories of failure The Meadowlands<\/em> captures so vividly, each band member found success in their subsequent work and family lives (check out Stereogum\u2019s hilarious 2007 exchange<\/a> with drummer MacDonald in which he sincerely tries to explain his job selling \u201coperation processing outsourcing technology platforms to investment managers\u201d to an understandably baffled Brandon Stosuy). New Wrens songs dropped here and there (including the wonderful demo of \u201cCrescent\u201d<\/a> that I wrote about in my song-a-day posts from December 2019). The last of these was \u201cThree Types of Reading Ambiguity.\u201d<\/p>\n