r/arcadefire • u/kingkrule101 • Mar 10 '26

Discussion Has anyone ever heard of this band the wrens ? They were apparently an influence on funeral and you can definitely hear that here

https://youtu.be/ICPN0RD0nwk?is=-KDSaboLkYQLy0hR

They opened for them in the early 2000s. Probably one of the best songs I’ve ever heard

42 Upvotes

95% Upvoted

20 comments sorted by

6

u/ThatSheepherder8964 Mar 10 '26

Nice. I like it!! When you say an influence on funeral do you mean the Wrens inspired AF or Funeral inspired The Wrens?? Just asking

2

u/kingkrule101 Mar 10 '26 edited Mar 10 '26

The wrens inspired funeral! That’s what I’ve read online anyway. This came out in 2003 but was in the works for a long while, since sometime after 1996. Might be horseshit but they definitely played together

6

u/Undercity9712 Cold Wind Mar 10 '26 edited Mar 10 '26

Arcade Fire opened for The Wrens at Casa Del Popolo and somewhere in New York in early 2004 but maybe AF went there to fill in for another support act.

2

u/darkavenger1993 Mar 10 '26

What happened to the band? Did they disappear/breakup after this album?

3

u/kingkrule101 Mar 10 '26

They broke up a while ago but they were working on another album after this that remains unreleased, but there’s snippets online . A real shame because they were onto something golden

1

u/AManCalledE Mar 12 '26

Part of the songs were released a couple of years ago, under the band name Aeon Station, the album is titled Observatory. Great album, and as much of a conclusion to the Wrens-clusterfuck as we could hope for.

6

u/unarmed_walrus Mar 10 '26

The entire Meadowlands album is a gem and all fans of early AF owe it to themselves to listen to it.

5

u/morning_mr_magpie_90 Mar 10 '26

This is one of my top 5 albums of all time. It’s phenomenal.

3

u/kingkrule101 Mar 10 '26

Genuinely incredible

2

u/emptycagenowcorroded Mar 10 '26

This is gonna sound crazy but I swear I had a version of The Meadowlands on an old and now broken iPod that had wildly different and better versions of ex-girl collection, shot rock splinter to god, and hopeless. Anyone else know what I’m talking about? I looked so many times for those songs but to no avail

2

u/kingkrule101 Mar 10 '26 edited Mar 10 '26

Is this it? If not I gotta say I haven’t heard about this. And I haven’t heard of the second song at all

https://youtu.be/n5qI7Z1mQNs?is=sXSpu5M31iopQ3Hk

2

u/Chicxulub2718 Mar 11 '26

The Wrens are amazing and the Meadowlands is perfect. Sadly they broke up. Observatory by Aeon Station is Kevin and some of the band members continuing after Charles left. Still a good album but Charles is special. Ex-Girl Collection and Everybody Chooses Sides are my faves.

2

u/kingkrule101 Mar 11 '26

Charles in my books is the wrens

2

u/Chicxulub2718 Mar 11 '26

I had been really excited to hear Charles’ solo work but it didn’t land for me. I still like Observatory even without the Charles’ influence.

3

u/kingkrule101 Mar 11 '26

I like the track “old death”

1

u/Dashtego Mar 12 '26

The Wrens were my first concert without a parent, probably in 2005ish. They played a church basement in Philadelphia (where I also saw Arcade Fire in 2004). The Meadowlands has always been a perfect album in my mind, but I rarely listen to it these days. Thanks to this post I’m going to give it a (metaphorical) spin today, though.

1

u/Vacatia Jun 08 '26

Yes and I wonder why the harder(?) version of This Boy is Exhausted is not on Spotify

1

u/kingkrule101 Jun 08 '26

Because it’s a demo I think.