Right from the beginning, you’re hooked. I enjoy it when I hear the first song and get the impression everything else is going to be just as good. Though I have a definite bias towards more experimental music, I also love a good pop album. “Secaucus” a name belying The Wren’s New Jersey roots, is just that: a fantastically good album with no fat whatsoever.
Take a look at the track list. 19 songs might seem like a lot of songs, but they come at you at a blisteringly fast pace. Each song stays at exactly the amount of time you’d want. It’s like they know what you want before you know it. As soon as you feel overwhelmed by the sheer tempo of the songs, they throw in a quieter, laid-back track such as “Jane Fakes a Hug”. Sure, I talk lot about pacing, but not every band pulls it off well. The Wrens are a quartet who understands this important skill.
“Yellow Number Three” introduces you to the album in the best way possible. Comparisons to the Arches of Loaf are inevitable, especially regarding the vocal delivery. However, The Wrens maintain a higher quality product than those College Radio darlings. Constantly I heard songs where I longed for the 90s all over again. Songs like “Surprise, Honeycomb” and “Joneses Rules of Sport” made me wish these guys had more money and success. Quality is consistent all the way to the very end of the album with “I married Sonja” building up nicely into a chorus which I’d hug if it was a person. Even at the last song “It’s Not Getting Any Good” they manage to have this interesting guitar work with literate lyrics.
Overall, as I read about them, I’m a bit saddened. Apparently their label Grass Records decided to drop them for the appalling awful Creed. The Wren doesn’t have anywhere as big of a discography as you’d expect for a band founded in 1989. However, we’re just entered a new decade, and that means another release called “Funeral” slated for this year 2011. If it is anywhere as good as this, I might have my album of the year.