The Wrens: "Pulled Fences"

New Jersey’s ladies-in-waiting for, let’s see, going on twenty years now, the Wrens have finally recorded their first new material together since The Meadowlands (2003). Well, sort of. The flock of four recorded “Pulled Fences” last February at Abbey Road in London for the now defunct satellite radio show WorldSpace Sessions. Fleshed out on-the-fly from a set of chords Kevin Whalen had used for “In Turkish Waters”—from the admittedly obscure Fake Bookshelf compilation, released by Australian multimedia zine The Lifted Brow—the arrangement holds together remarkably well. Characteristically, it’s a hushed and intimate affair: Whalen’s vocals, subdued and understated, manage the band dynamic so deftly that nary a note of guitar, drums, or piano seems out of place. Several of the original lyrics have been altered, but this is of no great detriment. In fact, if this is what the Wrens sound like today—unrehearsed and on-the-spot, no less—what’s the holdup then, fellas?

:: Stream