Interesting Ideas, Strange Sound

Craig Wedren’s new album Adult Desire is half acoustic guitar-driven folk, half 808-fueled indie. At fourteen tracks, it gives listeners numerous chances to try and understand Wedren’s motives, wishes, and musical personality. Although he picked a number in the sweet spot for album lengths, he and all who listen may have benefited from fewer tracks, if not fewer ideas. He has a fair supply of interesting musical ideas, but after the ‘wow’ factor diminishes, they reveal themselves as poorly-made patchwork quilts.

There are two short songs, “Amnesian Wedding March” and “Little Minaret,” both of which are non-hummable (obviously not a requirement) instrumentals with little to no repetition or theme, resembling the kind of material a music student would find in an old method book. There are two slightly longer short songs, “I Was a Soldier” and “Face the Pillows,” that are much more interesting than the former two. Both of these feature unique musical effects: the layer hiding just behind the guitar in “I Was a Soldier,” easily mistaken as an effect on the guitar the first listen-through; and the entirety of “Face the Pillows,” which creates a trippy, sonic atmosphere lacking a regular rhythm, but keeps listeners’ attention. “I Was a Soldier” also has more radio-bait-like qualities to it, which is noticeable where it comes in on the album.

Wedren’s guitar work is quite good when he uses it, proving his gentle touch on the instrument. He uses close harmonies and friendly tensions in the title-track (which is also the opener) and “Join the Zoo_Live Again.” The latter song is particularly fascinating. It’s almost like a song from a musical, the way it interrupts itself in the middle with a loud, full ensemble moment, only to quickly revert back to the coffeehouse vibe present at the start. At first, the interruption didn’t sit so well, but for an understandable reason: the life of the song is so encapsulating, it’s like a packed venue turned intimate, empty and quiet, occupied only by listener and performer. No one else matters; it’s all about the music, which is surprisingly cinematic. This initially makes the loud entrance from the rest of the instruments kind of annoying, but after two listens and a step back to think, it cements itself as a musical number, particularly the middle of a story (small traces of La La Land come to mind).

At least three of tracks are cool ideas put together weirdly. “Safe Home_Fadeland” is the first of these, opening with cellos and string basses leading the instrumental, later creating a rural England feel (like in Nanny McPhee or the Chronicles of Narnia). Wedren’s singing alone resembles a lullaby at points, but all these good things are brought down when he sings mostly by himself with random instruments/effects going off in the background arrhythmically, the frantic rush of sound before the end and the unexpected return back to him singing alone. “Genies” and “Arches” have mostly cool instrumentals with decent singing over top (the latter has minimal vocals), but then Wedren decides to add unnecessary, strange sounds (like pitched down voices muttering unintelligible words) that makes his motives hard to understand and the songs less interesting.

On the flip side, “2Priests (The Heat is On)” and “Into the Blue Sky” are the two highlight tracks. “2Priests” feels like an ending scene in a movie, yet not out of place where it is in the tracklist, and “Into the Blue Sky” just feels so natural — gently atmospheric and perfect for nighttime porch listening.

The varying degrees of dull vs. interesting and par vs. unique moments make Wedren’s Adult Desire a good album, not a great one.