Charles Bissell of The Wrens has been teasing a follow-up to 2003’s The Meadowlands for a long time now, but this time it seems like there’s really new music on the way from him. He’s announced a new solo project, Car Colors, and will release his debut single under the moniker, “Old Death,” on November 17 via Absolutely Kosher–the same label that released The Meadowlands–which has just been relaunched after a 12-year hiatus (pre-order). “Old Death,” and its b-side, “It’s All Guns and Arrows,” will appear on Car Colors’ debut album, currently expected early next year.
About the decision not to share any advance music until the single’s release, Absolutely Kosher’s Cory “Brownbutter” Brown said, “With the world waiting 20 years for this music, we wanted to reflect on how much had changed since 2003 and harken back to a time when people couldn’t hear a record until they bought a copy, creating a special kind of anticipation. Surprise drops are neat and instant gratification has understandable appeal, but we really wanted to see who our ‘ride-or-die’ fans are and reward them for sticking with us by letting them into the inner circle of everything we have planned, with early news, tickets, and other opportunities sure to interrupt the banality of your everyday feed. At 10 years in the making, this moment before the song begins in your ears is once in a lifetime. Lean in and enjoy it.”
Bissell calls “Old Death” “my life as The Odyssey disguised as a pop album,” and according to a press release, it’s over seven minutes long and “shows the work of its 10-year gestation and will be instantly recognizable to fans as classic Bissell: deeply melodic, stippled with dissonance, layered with production, and endlessly listenable.”
Bissell also shared an essay that he called “the mental health post I’ve thought about for a long, long time. And while it’s not about the album per se, it does also go some way to explaining why it took so long, what was involved, that sorta thing.” Read it here.
In 2021, The Wrens’ Kevin Whelan took songs intended for The Wrens’ long-awaited Meadowlands followup and released them as the debut Aeon Station album.
Read our look back at The Meadowlands for its 20th anniversary.
Here’s more on Absolutely Kosher’s relaunch, via press release:
As discussions around an anniversary reissue of The Meadowlands broke down in late 2022 and the decision was made not to repress the record at this time, Bissell asked Absolutely Kosher founder Cory Brown to reopen the label and release his long-awaited new record. Brown, who shuttered the label in 2011 to pay his mounting debts in the wake of a disruption that saw the music industry lose more than $7.5B in a 5-year period [CNN], had spent the last twelve years doing exactly that and was finally reaching the end of this humbling slog. Following a week of trying to convince Bissell that there were many capable labels still in business who’d be excited to work with him, Bissell was able to convey that, at age 60, after all the rigmarole around the dissolution of his former band and the decade of actively working on his album, he simply wanted to work with someone he knew and trusted.
Realizing the record would fall on the label’s 25th anniversary and armed with the validation of the artist most closely linked to the label, Brown soon stumbled into all sorts of serendipity, starting in the form of one Matt Reznick, a fan of both band and label who Brown met randomly in the hallway of their apartment building in 2021. Hearing of Bissell’s offer and Brown’s desire to not just come back for a single record but to engineer a full bells-and-whistles relaunch, Reznick, whose family had been victims of Bernie Madoff but whose inheritance still afforded him some modest privilege, offered to underwrite the effort.
[…] As Bissell worked to finish mixing his album, Brown surveyed the landscape, spoke with old industry friends, and began to understand that Absolutely Kosher’s casual disregard for orthodoxy could be harnessed into a new approach of building an ecosystem around their releases, so people in this world could understand them better. Starting with an animated short announcing a full slate of bands with records coming in the next year, the label’s anniversary efforts seek to fluster expectations and include a label podcast, a holiday TV special, a series of box sets with first-of-their-kind display ornaments, and a new logo to symbolize new beginnings. In that same spirit, Absolutely Kosher is now a full-fledged member of A2IM and has signed a worldwide deal with the forward-thinking Downtown Music Holdings’ FUGA for distribution, and their Curve Royalty Systems for financial propriety and unheralded transparency in all artist dealings.
Watch an announcement video for the relaunch and see Absolutely Kosher’s current upcoming release schedule:
Absolutely Kosher Release Schedule:
10/20/2023 – Sybris “Dead” digital single (AK138)
10/27/2023 – Edinburgh School for the Deaf – New Youth Bible – LP/Digital (AK098)
10/27/2023 – Brabrabra – Mangooona – LP/Digital (AK105)
11/17/2023 – Car Colors – “Old Death” 12″/Digital (AK100)