Acclaimed musician and film / tv composer Craig Wedren recently released his latest solo album, The Dream Dreaming (Tough Lover Records) and today, he shares three previously released videos of songs featured on the album, now featuring the final mastered versions of each song. Watch the updated versions of "On My Tongue," "You Are Not Your Feelings," “W 52nd” and "Going Sane."
Wedren has announced a new periodical Substack @CRAIGWEDREN that will center loosely around music, ideas, and creativity in general, essentially all-things-Craig. Of the Substack, Wedren notes:
I love to write, and have had a more-or-less daily practice since I was a teenager, but until now have only published lyrics.
By their very nature, lyrics are defined and restricted – in a good way – by the shape and structure of the songs they serve. They are bound and coded, serving the spell of the music. Launching a Substack seemed like a good way to break all of that open.
At first I'll be riffing off of themes from the new record, which will be a springboard for whatever stories and ideas might arise, all in a decidedly non-lyrical format. From there, we'll see where it goes!
Whimsy with an endearing dollop of weird: this has been Wedren’s raison d’etre since his days as the frontman for Shudder To Think – the accurately described “fanciful chimera” of the Dischord Records roster alongside the comparatively straightforward post-hardcore sounds of Fugazi and Jawbox. In the time since Shudder To Think’s final 1997 studio album, Wedren has recorded solo and with the band BABY, crafted ambient choral music under the Sabbath Sessions moniker, and become a go-to name in the worlds of film and TV scoring, with credits ranging from School of Rock, Wet Hot American Summer and Laurel Canyon to Showtime’s recent hit Yellowjackets. He also scored ALOK, the documentary that premiered at the Sundance Film Festival on the phenomenal poet / stand up comedian / trans rights activist Alok Vaid Menon, directed by Alex Hedison and executive produced by Jodie Foster.
The Dream Dreaming began life as what the operatic-voiced musician envisioned as a series of COVID-era singles but eventually grew into a full-length project, created without borders. It can be enjoyed as both the perfect musical uncoupling and reconciliation of Wedren’s many muses: from D.C. punk, heavy alternative, ‘80s and ‘90s pop, dance music, and soundtracks. These disparate versions of Wedren equally inform The Dream Dreaming, which is also Wedren’s first album since he had a major, out-of-the-blue heart attack in 2018 (“I needed to have some fun after having five stents jammed into my chest,” he says). The album is the next step of his sonic evolution, while still maintaining the whimsy and weird that makes Craig such a vital and unique voice.
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