Observatory - Aeon Station: Review
Aeon Station
is the newly minted solo project of Kevin Whelan, former bassist and co-vocalist of New Jersey indie rock and emo band The Wrens. In the nearly two decades since their last release they garnered a reputation as a legendary live act, found universal acclaim for their third record Meadowlands and then seemed to fade into the background. In an interview earlier this year Kevin expressed that Aeon Station was the result of frustration with the inability to get Wrens songs released and that a number of these tracks were intended for an unreleased 4th Wrens album.
Review By Lav:
Oh how I've waited for this. Okay maybe I haven't waited as long as some people considering I was some level of musically ignorant preschooler when The Wrens released Meadowlands. But somewhere between then and now I fell in love with the record and really the bands entire catalog, right about the time that waiting for a follow-up started to seem silly. But wait I did, and while the wait hasn't paid off exactly how I imagined it I was still incredibly excited to hear new music from Kevin. Even after mixed responses to the singles I enjoy Observatory quite a bit and while some small nitpicks hold it back from being a modern classic, it has every bit of the fundamentals you'd expect.
When I first heard about Aeon Station it was thankfully at the time of the release of this albums lead single so I didn't have to wait long. That song is Queens and when I first heard it, it knocked my fucking socks off. It threw me back into a spiral of revisiting The Wrens discography and here it serves as the rousing, catchy and compositionally diverse centerpiece for the record. The sheer variety of styles on display and how seamlessly they all fit together across the five minute runtime is one of the more impressive things I've heard this year and the song has been in my rotation ever since I first heard it. While I wasn't as crazy about the other singles there were still major highlights to be found on the records deep cuts.
Better Love is my favorite deep cut it's a very earnest pop punk style song with a great hook and a sweet wailing guitar passage. It's less technical than some other songs but it delivers on the lyrical promises of indie rock and has a total earworm of a hook. There's another pop-punk flavored cut on the record with Everything At Once a sentimental burner that bounces through strained refrains with a formlessness that really helps sell it all. The instrumentation is so sweet and evokes this genuine life from the song that I just can't help but sway with it.
Leaves is the opener and it's a 5 minute predominately acoustic cut which also mostly forgoes conventional structure. While it doesn't necessarily have a hook there are some wonderfully climactic moments as the call of "by the time you realize I'm gone" is almost heartland rock-ish in its expansive emotion. The instrumental bridge on the back end of the song is a serene one that I enjoyed every time I heard it kick off the record. Air gets off to a slow start but picks up momentum in the second half with some flashy guitar work that I wish was higher in the mix. The last bridge and hook on the song are both absolute barn burners that really bring it home. I just wish there was a bit more going on in the songs introduction.
Fade was a bit confusing to me as a single because it almost has a bouncy Cars like progression to it but the group vocals on the hook sort of undersell it. The song has grown on me a bit and the driving guitars grab me more than they did when I first heard it but I wouldn't call the song one of the records strongest. Move is one of a couple classic songwriter type tracks this time playing on tropes of moving on and change. It's delivered in a folky falsetto that should sound pretty familiar to most well listened fans. I wouldn't call it the most prophetic or high impact rendition of this kind of thing but it also isn't bad. Empty Rooms delivers a little more personality as a Bright Eyes style ballad but with the reserved vocals of a Death Cab cut. While I do like the minimal folk approach of the song I do think it needs a bit of extra momentum along the way because the final minute never really feels all that climatic despite my enjoyment of the lyrics and simple presentation.
The only song I outright dislike is Alpine Drive, a mostly gentle closer that almost sounds like a Christmas song with its plucked strings and chimes. While I'm not crazy about the song I think the worst thing it does is end the record off on an extremely bland note relative to the excitement it brings on other tracks.
Hoping for a Meadowlands 2 was more expectation than is fair for the album. If we treat Observatory like a highly anticipated debut album, which in one sense of the word it is, then it's impressive on all counts. There is creativity, excellent musicianship and genuine emotion to be found all over the place. While there are elements of the record that I think fail to elevate it further, I find it hard to complain much and given how excited I was to hear more music from The Wrens universe, I'm very happy with what Kevin delivered. 7/10
This cover is a cool minimal photograph and has a nice composition. It feels balanced and the color is refreshing. I love the reflection of the clouds in the windows. I also like the text on the side that maintains the verticality of the rest of the cover. 6.5/10
