Taken from their critically acclaimed debut album Observatory which was released December 3, 2021 via Sub Pop, AEON STATION are proud to premiere the video for “QUEENS,” which vocalist/songwriter Kevin Whelan explains, “is to celebrate Pride. The creation of this DIY video came organically with a few mutual friends brainstorming ways to bring the song to life. My wife Mary Ann and I reached out to Bill Shea [a.k.a. close friend and celebrated NYC drag queen MargOH! Channing] to help make the video, where he enlisted his friend, Jorge Urena to film it. The footage was carefully pieced together by our own Lysa Opfer from Aeon Station.”
Advocating self acceptance, the video for “Queens” focuses on the stunning transformation from Bill to the MargOH! and the joy that comes with personal truth. “I was so thrilled when Mary Ann reached out to me about the song ‘Queens’ and creating a video for it,” says MargOH! excitedly.
The origins of the video is one based on the history and friendship of Kevin, Mary Ann and Bill/MargOH! who had been coworkers while Kevin and Mary Ann were dating. After a breakup between the two, Bill proved to be the catalyst that initiated their ultimate reconciliation. “Bill was unknowingly part of Kevin’s plan to get us back together,” laughs Mary Ann. “Kevin asked Bill to deliver some gifts to me. I wouldn’t take them at first, but after some initial protest, I eventually accepted the gifts, and the rest is history.”
“I think the video has captured the inspiration of this song ‘The Winner Takes it All’ by ABBA - like a game of high-stakes poker and not being afraid to go all-in, taking that chance and betting on the real you,” says Kevin. “Thank you, MargOH!, for agreeing to make the video and delighting audiences for many years with your cabaret performances. Thank you also for helping me start the reconciliation process with my now wife all those years ago!”
Concludes MargOH!, “I’m so happy it’s being released during Pride because the song and video captures the past, the present and hope for the future and we all need that right now. It’s like Judy Garland once said, ‘Well, we have a whole new year ahead of us. And wouldn’t it be wonderful if we could all be a little more gentle with each other, a little more loving, and have a little more empathy, and maybe, next year at this time we’d like each other a little more’.”
“Queens” is taken from the album Observatory by Aeon Station. The band has also announced Summer tour dates below.
July 9 – Chicago @ Square Roots Festival August 12 – San Francisco @ The Independent (tickets) August 13 – Los Angeles @ The Echo (tickets) August 26 – NYC @ Le Poisson Rouge (tickets) August 27 – Boston @ Brighton Music Hall (tickets) September 23 – Portland, OR @ Mississippi Studios (tickets) September 24 – Seattle @ Tractor Tavern (tickets)
Following their triumphant live debut at NYC’s TV Eye in March 2022 and explosive shows at SXSW before Kevin Whelan injured his knee during a performance, Sub Pop recording artists AEON STATION are announcing a round of live shows this Summer. Their live performance as hailed by The Aquarian “created magic… It was like a sporting event where deep in your bones you knew your favorite team or athlete was not just going to win, but achieve something extraordinary.”
Kicking off July 9th at Chicago’s Square Roots Festival where they are sharing the stage with friends Guided By Voices, they will be performing more shows in August and September on the coasts.
July 9 – Chicago @ Square Roots Festival August 12 – San Francisco @ The Independent (tickets) August 13 – Los Angeles @ The Echo (tickets) August 26 – NYC @ Le Poisson Rouge (tickets) August 27 – Boston @ Brighton Music Hall (tickets) September 23 – Portland, OR @ Mississippi Studios (tickets) September 24 – Seattle @ Tractor Tavern (tickets)
Surprising an unsuspecting public last Summer with the news of Aeon Station’s debut release (this was the first new music from any of The Wrens since 2003’s critically adored album Meadowlands), Observatory’s (released in December 2021) effect was immediate and overwhelmingly positive. Pitchfork lauded, “Whelan’s instincts are exquisite. His melodies are sweet, but never overstated. His songs rise and swell, but it’s never too much, always just enough.” Referencing The Wrens’ long-awaited follow up, SPIN proclaimed, “Though this isn’t a Wrens album, which is what many of their extremely patient fans had hoped for, it’s certainly a great consolation prize.” Calling the album “arresting,” Wall Street Journal contributes their praise, “The album’s essential idea, embodied in both the words and Mr. Whelan’s gesture to form this band and get his songs out there, is that endurance matters above all.”
Joined by his Wrens bandmates drummer Jerry MacDonald and guitarist Greg Whelan (both of whom also play on the album), Aeon Station is rounded out with NYC/NJ indie rock veteran Lysa Opfer (Gramercy Arms, Big Lake) and guitarist/producer/author Tom Beaujour.
Referencing the injury that sidelined the band for the Spring while his leg healed, Whelan concludes: ”After the minor setback during SXSW which was one in a long line of rocker injuries, we can’t wait to see you at a show!”
For the first time in years, it’s that time of year again…We are, of course, referring to the 2022 SxSW Music Festival in Austin, TX. And this year, Sub Pop artists Aeon Station, Naima Bock, Cartel Madras, CHAI, Hannah Jadagu, Kiwi Jr., Pissed Jeans, and Weyes Blood will all appear at the once-again-annual music festival and BBQ buffet. Please find a complete schedule for each artist below.
Aeon Station
THURSDAY, MARCH 17th
5:25 PM / Hipster Robot Showcase @ Side Bar
602 E 7th St., Austin, TX 78701
1:00 AM / SXSW Showcase @ Elysium
705 Red River St., Austin, TX 78701
FRIDAY, MARCH 18th
1:30 PM / Brooklyn Vegan Showcase @ TBD
6:15 PM / Midgetmen’s Jumpstart 14
602 E 7th St., Austin, TX 78701
10:00 PM / Pellicular Works @ Soundspace Captain Quackenbush’s Coffeehouse
5326 Menchaca Rd., Austin, TX 78745
Naima Bock
WEDNESDAY, MARCH 16th
1:00 PM / IFPA (Global Street Farm) @ Idle Hands
Address: 85 Rainey St
THURSDAY, MARCH 17th
8:00 PM / St. David’s Bethell Hall @ St. David’s Episcolpal Church
301 E 8th St., Austin, TX 78701
FRIDAY, MARCH 18th
11:00 PM / British Underground Happening @ Seller’s Underground
Panel Topic: Three LGBTQ+ acts with experience exploring their musicianship at a young age speak about the evolution of their craft and how that impacted the ways in which they came to celebrate their sexual identities.
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.
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
As the long-awaited release of Observatory approaches on December 10, 2021 via Sub Pop, the debut album by AEON STATION, Kevin Whelan (one of the main songwriters of iconic indie rock band The Wrens) has offered a third glimpse into the musical world he has created with new single and video“Fade.”
“I wrote this song in part to describe the myriad of emotions I was feeling when making the decision to move to Singapore with my family,” says Kevin. “My wife and I had just bought a house in New Jersey when I was presented with an opportunity from my job to live and work in another country. Once we let go of our fears and embraced the adventure of the unknown, we discovered the experience was better than we could have ever imagined.”
Directed by Laurent Briet (The Strokes “Taken for a Fool”, Beyoncé “1+1”), the dazzling video follows a woman trying to escape her visualized demons. “The song reminds us that we all live with daily fear, disappointment and criticism and it’s up to us to rise above the negative chatter and break through our self-imposed limitations,” he explains. “What the protagonist in the video doesn’t realize is that these negative things… these ‘rocks’… are and will always be around her, no matter how far she runs.” Eventually, she overcomes the anxiety and “learns to love and accept the challenges that will always be around her.”
After roughly 18 years since The Wrens’ Meadowlands (2003) struck the indie rock world with a dizzying wallop, Whelan surprised everyone this Summer with the release of “Queens” which Pitchfork found “thrilling” and Stereogum called “exhilarating.” KEXP crowned it “Song of the Day” saying it’s “so much more than we could’ve expected… a climactic five-minute epic.” The second single “Leaves” was met with equal awe from Brooklyn Vegan (“mournful and cinematic”) and SPIN (“a heart-wrenching ballad of self-enduring trials and defeat”). More than a decade in the making, Observatory shines a bright light on Kevin’s songwriting, receiving help on assorted tracks from his Wrens bandmates Jerry MacDonald (drums) and Greg Whelan (guitar) and producer/guitarist Tom Beaujour.
In SxSW’s initial statement about the 2022 conference on March 11-20, 2022, Aeon Station was highlighted as one of its showcasing artists. In response, Kevin posted a jawdropping selfie on social media with Wrens bandmates Jerry and Greg, building a great deal of anticipation.
Observatory is now available for preorder on CD/LP/DSPs from Sub Pop. LP preorders from megamart.subpop.com.
Observatory
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
