The new project from Kevin Whelan of The Wrens releases Observatory, the group’s debut record, today worldwide on December 10th, 2021. The 10-track album came together carefully for Whelan, over the course of 14 years, specifically, as clusters of demos and sketches. These were eventually assembled and recorded largely by Whelan himself, with assistance from Wrens’ bandmates Jerry MacDonald and Greg Whelan, as well as Tom Beaujour in his Union City recording space. Additionally, his wife Mary Ann provided backup vocals.

Observatory is now available worldwide on CD/LP/DSPs from Sub Pop. Grab the LP from megamart.subpop.com, select independent retailers in North America, in the UK, and in Europe will receive the album on cloudy blue.

About Observatory:
Aeon Station’s Observatory is an epic statement more than a decade in the making, with miles of timeless melodies and the kind of overpowering songwriting that will reaffirm your belief in life itself. Longtime Wrens member Kevin Whelan’s first solo album draws heavily from the perseverance of the soul, resulting in rock music possessing an infectious and inspiring sonic uplift. If you’re familiar with Whelan’s past work, these ten tracks bear a certain and unmistakable familiarity—but they also mark an exciting new chapter in Whelan’s musical career, as he steps out with more vulnerability than ever before.
 
Observatory came together carefully for Whelan—over the course of 14 years, specifically, as clusters of demos and sketches were eventually assembled and recorded largely by Whelan himself, with assistance from Wrens’ bandmate Jerry MacDonald and Greg Whelan as well as Tom Beaujour in his Union City recording space. Additionally, his wife Mary Ann provided backup vocals. “It’s the best I’ve done and may ever do frankly,” Whelan states. “It’s written over such a long period of my life. Music I did in the past was tinged with expectations or presumptions, but this time, it was just for me.”
 
The long gestation of Observatory means that a lot of lived experience went into making this album. As time passed, Whelan got married, started a family, and moved to the Asia Pacific region for a period of time; at 15 months old, his son (now eight) was also diagnosed with autism, and the title of Observatory itself is inspired by Whelan’s own relationship with his son.
“The moment you’re told your child is not ‘neurotypical,’ your whole world expands in ways you never imagined,” he explains. “Even though he doesn’t speak much at all, or look at anyone directly, you can see him observing everything around him. The album title reflects upon the stories within the songs — each one observing a certain situation or feeling.”
 
Whelan’s scope of musical vision on Observatory is wide open and free with possibilities—at once recalling the reflective wisdom of Bruce Springsteen, Broken Social Scene’s huge anthemic burn, and the Wrens’ own pulsing-with-life take on rock music. Above all, this is music not only for dreamers but for those who realize and appreciate the enormity of every moment. “It’s about never letting go about those dreams and your passion,” he states. “The album starts from a place of realizing that everything is temporary, what we love eventually changes or leaves us, and regardless we continue to search and find our way back home.”
 
The pounding “Queens” builds to a truly thrilling climax of huge guitars and frantic drumming, while the steady build of “Leaves” is accompanied by Whelan’s reflections on “Being lost and then found”: “It musically captures the album as it starts small and intimate, crescendos into a peak both musically and lyrically, and then settles down into a repeating mode of a hopeful but uncertain mantra about the future,” he explains while discussing the song’s themes and creation.
 
Then there’s the gleaming harmonies of “Fade,” a song about breaking past your own insecurities to discover what’s on the other side. “Whether you limit yourself because of your own fears and insecurities, or because what others think and say,” Whelan says, “The song is about when you stop waiting and start believing deeper in your own path.” Observatory ends with the hushed and lush “Alpine Drive,” with Whelan’s voice lit by pinwheel plucked piano strings—a tender moment that packs as much power as the nine songs that come before it.
 
“I hope people feel a sense of strength when they hear this album,” he states while discussing his artistic aims as a whole. “Most importantly, I hope that it connects to them in some personal way.” And if you’ve ever caught air in your lungs or felt your heart beating in your chest, there’s no doubt that you’ll find some level of connection with Observatory’s open-hearted, instantly classic-sounding rock.

Tracklisting:
1. Hold On
2. Leaves
3. Fade
4. Everything at Once
5. Move
6. Queens
7. Empty Rooms
8. Air
9. Better Love
10. Alpine Drive

Tomorrow, December 10th marks the physical release of Cuntry Covers Vol. 1, the debut from Toronto-based band Bria. This six-song EP of country classics features the standout covers “Green Rocky Road” (Karen Dalton), “Dreaming My Dreams With You” (Waylon Jennings) and “The Sun Ain’t Gonna Shine Anymore” (The Walker Brothers.) To celebrate the physical release, the band has shared a new video for the famed Lucinda Williams song “Fruits of My Labour.” You can watch the official video by clicking here.  

Bria just returned from a two-week US tour, performing with UK band Wolf Alice, and playing iconic venues such as The Vic in Chicago, Paradise Club in Boston, Bowery Ballroom in NYC, and Terminal West in Atlanta. They will be headlining the Paradise Theater on December 17th in Toronto. Click here for the most up-to-date shows. 
 
What people are saying about Bria:
“It’s an other-worldly take on the Karen Dalton standard…” [“Green Rocky Road”] - Clash
 
“Where Dalton’s original is quite lo-fi and scratchy, Bria have added some fidelity and warmth to it through golden-strummed guitars and a lackadaisical but precise beat.” [“Green Rocky Road”] - Beats Per Minute
 
“Salmena’s raspy tinged voice provides a depth of longing and fractured tenderness on her cover of Karen Dalton’s track, “Green Rocky Road.’” [“Green Rocky Road”] - Ears to Feed
 
“The band’s version should will win over any Jennings fans, or fans of old country.” [“Dreaming My Dreams Of You”] - Northern Transmissions
 
“Cuntry Covers Vol. 1 seamlessly drifts between classic country references and a new perspective of reimagining what country could sound like” - Tonitruale

Bria
Cuntry Covers Vol. 1
 
Tracklisting
1. Green Rocky Road (Karen Dalton)
2. Dreaming My Dreams With You (Waylon Jennings)
3. Buffalo Ballet (John Cale)
4. Fruits of My Labour (Lucinda Williams)
5. The Sun Ain’t Gonna Shine Anymore (The Walker Brothers)
6. I Don’t Wanna Love Ya Now (Mistress Mary)

Naima spent her early childhood in Sao Paulo Brazil to a Greek/English mother and a Brazilian father. She was exposed to a diverse range of music from an early age. Artists like Baden Powell, Chico Buarque, Geraldo Vandre, Cartola were constantly playing in her house, and on long drives, she and her family would take to the beach. Naima and her family moved to South London when she was seven. As a teenager, Naima began attending shows, mostly at the Windmill Brixton.  At the tender age of 15, she and a group of friends decided to start making music which would eventually turn into her first band Goat Girl. After six years of touring the world and playing bass in the band, Naima felt like it was the right time to leave, mostly due to a desire for a change in musical direction.

Today, Beach House is sharing Chapter 2 from Once Twice Melody, the group’s forthcoming double album, out February 18th, 2022.
 
Once Twice Melody, the first album produced entirely by Beach House, was recorded at Pachyderm studio in Cannon Falls, MN, United Studio in Los Angeles, CA, and Apple Orchard Studios in Baltimore, MD. For the first time, a live string ensemble was used, with arrangements by David Campbell. Once Twice Melody was mostly mixed by Alan Moulder but a few tracks were also mixed by Caesar Edmunds, Trevor Spencer, and Dave Fridmann.
 
Once Twice Melody features 18 tracks, and in the lead up to the physical release, will be presented in 4 chapters with lyric animations for each song. 
 
Chapter 1 (November 10th, 2021)
1. Once Twice Melody
2. Superstar
3. Pink Funeral
4. Through Me
 
Chapter 2 (December 8th, 2021 - TODAY)
5. Runaway
6. ESP
7. New Romance
8. Over and Over
 
Chapter 3 (January 19th, 2022)
9. Sunset
10. Only You Know
11. Another Go Around
12. Masquerade
13. Illusion of Forever
 
Chapter 4 (full album release, February 18th, 2022)
14. Finale
15. The Bells
16. Hurts to Love
17. Many Nights
18. Modern Love Stories
 
 
Once Twice Melody can be preordered now from Sub Pop, Bella Union (UK/Europe), and Mistletone (Australia / New Zealand), and select independent retailers in North America.
 
Beach House have also announced headlining tour dates in support of Once Twice Melody, which begin on February 18th, 2022 (see also November 9th, 2021 announcement).
 
New international festival appearances include Best Kept Secret Festival in Hilvarenbeek, NL (June 10th-12th), Portugal’s Paredes de Coura (August 16th-20th), and This Ain’t No Picnic in Pasadena, CA (August 27th-28th). For more information on tickets, please visit oncetwicemelodytour.com.
 
What people are saying about Once Twice Melody:
“Chapter One captured that storybook quality with sweeping ballads fit for a baroque fairytale, each guided by Victoria Legrand’s typically enchanting vocals.” - The AV Club
 
“…Their most cinematic record yet. Working with a live string ensemble for the first time, they summon a sound more surrealistic than anything on 2018’s 7, bringing to mind 1960s psychedelia, Stereolab, and Broadcast’s ‘Come On Let’s Go’.” - Pitchfork
 
“Beach House’s music contains many gifts, but it’s the group’s ability to magnify life’s small dramas into sky-sized emotions that glitters (“Superstar”).” - New York Times
 
“‘Like walking into a fairytale — it’s reminiscent of psychedelic ’60s folk and other kinds of evocative vintage pop.” - PAPER
 
“All of them are amazing. All of them have their proponents. But “Superstar,” while perhaps not the most novel of the bunch, is the one that gave me the spine-chilling sensation of listening to a bona fide Beach House classic for the first time.” (“Song of the Week”) - Stereogum

“Things begin with the stunning title track that mixes low-fi electronics with baroque touches and a stirring string section. You can hear echoes of Broadcast, Stereolab and Spacemen 3 (whose Sonic Boom produced their last album, 7). The hand-drawn animated lyric video, directed by Annapurna Kumar, is great too. From there, it’s the pulsing, kaleidoscopic ‘Superstar’ (video by Nicholas Law), the neon dread of ‘Pink Funeral’ (full of strings right out of a horror film and a video by Scott Kiernan), and the melting arpeggiations of ‘Through Me’ (with a video by San Charoenchai). The visuals for all four songs are fantastic, very different, but majorly psychedelic.” - Brooklyn Vegan

“GOLD” Edition 2xLP Box / “SILVER” Edition 2xLP 

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