Pitchfork: Shudder To Think's Wedren to Release Solo Album

Shudder To Think's Wedren to Release Solo Album

This writer would not be the music fan she is today were it not for Craig Wedren. Back in middle school, his theme song for MTV's "The State" (co-written with Eli Janney of Girls Against Boys) introduced her to his band, Shudder to Think, and to the world of indie rock entire. Now, a good 12 years later, Wedren has been working with his band Baby and scoring TV shows and films for "State" alumni, and is finally set to release his first solo album. The record, entitled Lapland, will see release October 25 on Conor Oberst's Team Love label.

Wedren spoke to Pitchfork from the set of "Stella", where he was getting ready to make out with his real-life fianc�e for an upcoming episode. He said the album, which features Kevin March (Guided By Voices, Shudder to Think) as well as some of Wedren's other friends from Stella and Baby, was something he had been sitting on for a little while. He passed the demos to Oberst last fall when Wedren backed him up at a show in New York. "[Team Love] feels perfect for this album," he said. "It's a more organic, somewhat more traditional record, with some of the little jagged edges. It's still very idiosyncratic, I think," he said, "But it's more accessible without being deliberately commercial."

Wedren also said he was pleased to be working on a solo record, since much of his output over the last few years has been collaborations with bands or soundtrack material, most recently for the Michael Showalter film The Baxter, and for "Reno 911!" and "Stella". "It's nice to do something for yourself, as opposed to soundtracks where you don't really have control over the final outcome," he said. Lapland tracklist:

01 Kingdom
02 Night Is Over
03 Do You Harm
04 Wanna Drive
05 Alone in Love
06 Fifteen Minutes Late
07 Rain Diamonds
08 Born Curious
09 Stuck
10 She Don't Sleep
11 Love Among Ruins
12 One Man's Heart