Wren was an alias used by now Fields frontman Nick Peill when releasing solo material.
Peill grew up on the south coast but turned his back on countryside and fresh air to study a fine art degree in Birmingham where he resided whilst working on songs as Wren. Nick had been sending Melodic records demos for some time until the label were finally convinced. 'Nick's a great example of an artist being coaxed over time into using his strengths, and what he's come up with, thanks to patience is possibly the strongest album Melodic has released so far' explains label boss David Cooper.Melodic staff think it sounds 'part classic shoe-gazer (Ride, Pale Saints, MBV) but with a kind of up-to-date progressive feel like Papa M or Manitoba.' Nick agrees, 'I was brought up on a diet of indie music really, all that stuff. Pale Saints, Ride, Pixies, Pavement, Sonic Youth, Slowdive, I was always more into guitars than anything else.'
Drive Down Lines is a precursor to the album The Egg & The Tree that was planned to be released in Autumn 2004. The album was 50/50 instrumentals and vocal tracks before being scrapped, so this single sums things up quite nicely for now with the vocal on the A side and an instrumental on the B side. But why not vocals on every song? 'Well, this is always a bit of a dilemma for me. I have an indie boys' inherent fear of singing and sounding crap! Also, I'm constantly changing my mind about whether I want to make instrumental music or to write songs. Sometimes a tune will feel like it's missing something without a vocal line and other times vocals cover all the nice instrumental work that's been done and which I want to focus on.'
Songwriting being something that seems to have lost it's way in recent times, Drive Down Lines is something fresh and a reminder that all is not lost! Nick explains the secret to a good song, '…my favorite and often more successful tracks are ones that feel like they write themselves, almost as if I have been completely unaware of what I'm doing until it is finished.'
In many ways we're lucky to be hearing this as a modest Nick explains, 'My intention was never to have it heard outside the room in which it was made, but things have a habit of spreading out and taking on their own life. And with the encouragement of some other musicians and artists I shared a little of what I did with everyone else.'
