New York, NY (Top40 Charts) Acclaimed songwriter, singer, film & television composer and Shudder To Think frontman
Craig Wedren will release an expanded version of his most recent albumAdult Desire on November 16. Today, he reveals a new single from Adult Desire Expanded, "Into The Blue Sky (Acoustic Demo)," which was penned with
Chris Cornell in mind as a possible collaboration between the two friends.
Of the track, Wedren says: "As with many of the songs on Adult Desire, "Into The Blue Sky" began as a movie assignment. A few years ago I was composing the score for 'Lucky Them', a film about the mysterious disappearance of a fictional '90s-era singer from Seattle, and his former lover-and current rock journalist (Toni Collette)-who seeks to unravel the mystery of his disappearance.
If memory serves, we needed an original song for one scene, where a present-day Seattle band is playing a cover of one of the legendary singer's songs. I wanted to write a slightly grizzled, Classic Rock-meets-Grunge acoustic ballad, and had
Chris Cornell in my mind's eye.
It so happened that Chris -a friend with whom I'd recently done an acoustic tour- was in Miami writing and recording demos. I sent him a version of the song, and he graciously sang the first verse and chorus, which I presented to Megan Griffiths, the director. She loved it, but ultimately went a different direction with the scene. I shelved the song and completely forgot about it.
When Chris died, I was heartbroken. Although we really only knew each other in that backstage, no-time/no-place kind of way, I loved him and considered him a pal. Spookily, our mutual friend
Jeff Buckley first introduced us in the mid-'90s. Another weird nocturnal ghost-memory.
About a day or two after receiving the crushing news about Chris, I had this little tickle in my brain, like 'wait: wasn't there a song...?' At the time, I was nearing completion of Adult Desire, but felt the album needed one more song, something relatively traditional (a song-y song, nothing too experimental) to balance out the album.
That's when I remembered 'Into The Blue Sky.' I dug out all the various different versions from 'Lucky Them', including the one with Chris, and then rearranged and re-recorded the whole thing.
Included in Adult Desire Expanded is the original demo I wrote for the movie and sent to Chris."
Adult Desire is experimental, electro-acoustic and highly melodic. Wedren explains that the album is, "a meditation on age, death, sex, marriage and family best described as 'domestic Surrealism'." Adult Desire is the first record he made since moving to Los Angeles and The Los Angeles Times calls the LP "...a tender and fearless set of electro-acoustic pop ditties...".
Throughout his illustrious career,
Craig Wedren has made a name for himself in the world of film & television. On
September 25, NBC premiered a new drama entitledNew Amsterdam and the show features music by Wedren. His resume of composing and scoring for film and television projects includes the Wet Hot American Summer movie and television series, Role Models, The School of Rock, Afternoon Delight, Laurel Canyon, Reno 911!, The State, Stella, the first and second season of GLOW, and much more. His latest project with longtime collaborator and childhood friend
David Wain is the Netflix film A Futile and Stupid Gesture starring Will Forte, Joel McHale and Seth Green. Read more on Wedren's relationship with Wain via Noisey. Wedren also did the music to the recent Ken Marino-directed indie comedy Dog Days, featuring original songs written by him and his Pink Ape team, and performed by Hamilton's actress Jasmine Cephas Jones, among others.
ADULT DESIRE EXPANDED - TRACK LISTING
01 - Adult Desire
02 - Amnesian Wedding March
03 - I Am A Wolf, You Are The Moon
04 - Be A Man
05 - I Was A Soldier
06 - The Same
07 - 2Priests (The Heat Is On)
08 -
Little Minaret
09 - Join The Zoo Live Again
10 - Safe Home Fadeland
11 - Face The Pillows
12 - Genies
13 - Into The Blue Sky
14 - Arches
EXPANDED EXTRAS
15 - Run Away
16 - Mummies
17 - String Of Pearls
18 - Into The Blue Sky (Acoustic Demo)
19 - Safe Home (Single Edit)
20 - I Am A Wolf, You Are The Moon (Wet Hot Version)
21 - Mummies (Acoustic Version)
22 - 2Priests (Single Mix)
