Secaucus

by Nitsuh Abebe Secaucus drops the attempt at dreamy haze that marked Silver in favor of a direct but slightly slanted rock sound that tends to work far better -- the album might be fairly straightforward, but compared to earlier Wrens' work, an Archers of Loaf reference seems almost appropriate, and hints of this fuzzy slant make the rock on Secaucus far more idiosyncratic than anything else the Wrens have done. More importantly, the band's songwriting is slightly more confident and of a generally higher quality -- the album provides more interesting turns and switches in its first ten minutes than the whole of Silver did.