i'm stoked.

http://www.wrens.com/25th-year-wrap-up_and_record_is_wrapped

and http://pitchfork.com/news/55782-the-wrens-share-snippet-of-new-music-cut-from-upcoming-album/

It took Charles Bissell nearly dying over the holidays for him to let go and stop obsessing over the thing.

i'm glad he didn't die.

I love the Wrens. Seen them probably a dozen times since 2003 and was really anticipating a follow up. I'm happy they are finally putting something out.

I can't really question their process, as 8 years of laboring produced the Meadowlands (a fave of mine). That said, 12 years seems like a really long time to labor on a follow-up. I wonder how they can possibly live up to expectations given that kind of production timeline with this release. It's particularly bewildering because a lot of their issues around the delays with the Meadowlands were about getting the run around from a couple labels for a few years. They seemingly had somewhat of a financial windfall with the Meadowlands and had a lot of material written even by 2005, so the delay was really seemingly Charles just laboring over the mix for several years? I dunno. I dunno how you can ever get it that perfect...

Part of me wishes they would have just gotten something done quickly and moved on to another record, but maybe this is better. Maybe this will be the best thing they've ever done. Certainly I hope so...they're really nice guys.

I thought that Pitchfork link was going to be a 11.0 review before they had even heard it.

Honestly, in reading some of the blog posts, it seems that Charles is an obsessive to put it mildly, and the only reason they are actually finishing the record was his near death experience. I can't wait to hear it. The Meadowlands is still an album that gets me every time. Bewildered at how long ago it came out and how long this new one took, but to see anything is a miracle to me.

Next one will be Swervedriver, and I can die a happy man.

I still have lasagna at least once every month.