Concept albums aren’t a new thing, of course. You may see them less frequently than you used to but they’re still around. Alexander Wren puts a new twist on them, though, with his debut full length album, To Whom It May Concern,. It’s an open letter to the universe: a combination of love letter to someone he hasn’t met and journal of his New York City residency.
The record starts with the figurative title track, called Unknown Girl. It’s addressed to a never-met someone, telling them, “can’t wait to feel you, just to be near you”. It’s like a pre-love letter. Stylistically, it and the next tune, Everything Is Meaningless, hew to the 70’s pop of John Lennon or Harry Nilsson. Full of keyboards and synthesizers, they serve to get you nestled in to producer Micah Tawlks instrumentation for much of the album. Thought I’d Hit the Lotto runs in a similar vein, with the addition of strings and reeds.
Although Wren keeps the mood upbeat on this metaphorical search, he doesn’t mind opening up his dark side occasionally. Don’t Shoot is a pleading prayer, accompanied by minimalistic piano, to a gunman. Sadly, it’s a song you couldn’t imagine being written even a decade ago. Barely is a straightforward folk tune with hints of Baptist hymnal. It relates Wren’s struggles with an anxiety disorder in a letter more to God, perhaps, than to the world at large. Full Time Blues is a 70’s R&B-groove story of putting in long hours for The Man, “twelve hour days just for pocket change”. Blue collar blues for today’s working class.
Alexander Wren credits much of his early love of music to the car radio in his parent’s ’57 Buick. With him growing up in Fort Wayne, IN, you can just picture the family roadtrips across the Midwestern heartland. There’s also a sense of wonderment viewing the world from a big bench backseat. That joy and curiosity, even if colored by the occasional panic attack or crappy job, comes through strongly in To Whom It May Concern,. As one of the faceless crowd Wren had in mind, I have to say I really enjoyed getting his letter.
About the author: I've actually driven from Tehatchapee to Tonopah. And I've seen Dallas from a DC-9 at night.