New York, NY (Top40 Charts) Craig Wedren, the dynamic multi-octave-wielding musical polymath, announces his latest project, Second Sleep. The album title refers to a time before electric light, when people would go to bed, then wake up around midnight for an hour or two, and then tuck back in 'til sunrise. Things could happen in those quiet hours that were markedly different from daytime behavior and output.
Set for release on December 24, Second Sleep features 6 short songs of mostly-improvised late night piano/vocal music.
Of the new project, Wedren notes: Lately, I haven't been sleeping through the night very well and, rather than squeeze my eyes shut and grind my jaw about it, I decided to make music at the piano in the living room - quiet, so as not to wake the family, and short to keep things from getting too ponderous or effortful.
Over the course of a few weeks I recorded oodles of short, primitive improvisations into my phone. What you hear here are slightly evolved versions of those pieces, with some singing and words that come from the same half-conscious place as the original piano recordings.
Second Sleep follows a busy year for the film and television composer, and Shudder to Think frontman. Early this year, Lakeshore Records released Blood Hive, the original score from the SHOWTIME series YELLOWJACKETS featuring music composed by
Craig and his frequent collaborator Anna Waronker (that dog.).
The strikingly sinister score harkens back to the punk, grunge and garage scenes of the '90 s and provides a darkly ominous backdrop to the horror series. The album is available digitally (listen here) and contains an extended version of the main title song "No Return."
Wedren also released
Spring and Summer iterations of his ongoing Sabbath Sessions series. Sabbath Sessions are intended to help facilitate connection to self and imagination, born out of the introspection of his longtime mindfulness and wellness practices and uniting many different strands of his varied musical aptitudes. These musical meditations represent his first explorations of ambient choral music, where Wedren's technique of sampling and looping his famously elastic voice results in a unique kind of sound bath.
Wedren first gained notice as frontman of Shudder to Think. With its eccentric song structures and complex time signatures, the band would prove a significant influence on math rock, post-hardcore, and emo.
As Shudder to Think wound down, Wedren began to pursue new, vital sonic avenues of his own including several solo albums, related collaborative projects and his music has become an essential part of some of film and television's most popular and lauded shows.
Craig's composing resume includes extensively working with director Lisa Cholodenko (Laurel Canyon, High Art) and
David Wain (Role Models, Wet Hot American Summer); and create evocative, decidedly contemporary scores for cultural-touchstone films and television series including The School of Rock, Laurel Canyon, Reno 911!, The State, GLOW,
Fresh Off the Boat and Shrill.
