Craig Wedren recently confirmed details for his new album The Dream Dreaming, due January 26th via his own Tough Lover Records, along with the album’s lead single “Fingers On My Face.” Now, the Shudder to Think frontman has shared the album’s the latest track, “Play Innocent,” accompanied by a roller skating-filled video.
On the new song and video, Wedren comments: “’Play Innocent’ was originally written for the ‘Wet Hot American Summer’ TV series, albeit in a rough-n-rudimentary form. It was one of about 30 original songs we created for the show, each an homage to a different artist, song or genre that we loved from the era, circa 1981, when the show takes place. ‘Play Innocent’ was inspired by early Dire Straits, thus the relatively low vocal register (for me, anyway) and ‘Skateaway’ inspired beat…Add Paul Cartwright’s ever elegant, swooping strings to the mix and Billy Bush’s magnificent mix, and voila!”
“Play Innocent” starts off with an instrumental backed up by optimistic lyrics. “Everything will be just fine…pedals on the floor”. There is a sense of freedom in this song; the video footage consists of roller-skaters in the park. It seems that Wedren is going back to a time when he was younger. “Everything will be all right if we play innocent”; it’s like he’s going back to his childhood. He sings about how the time we have on earth is limited. “In folded pressing bound time rising to the sun / everything at once as one / leaving all the rest undone”. The instrumental and humming sounds prolong the song near the end, then Wedren repeats “Play Innocent” to the listener. The song fades as it ends.
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