The Wrens
Meadowlands
Inertia

Record companies have a lot to answer for. It was record label wrangles that delayed the Stone Roses five years in releasing a follow-up album to their brilliant debut and, in the meantime, the lengthy legal battle seemed to suck the creative genius out of them. The Wrens have had their fair misfortune with record companies too, as you would expect of any band that has been bouncing around for over 15 years and only released three albums. After starting out life on Grass Records, which later took a corporate turn for the worse becoming Wind Up records (home of Creed and Evanescene), The Wrens were subsequently dropped from the roster when they didn't fall into line and take management's advice about how to make it big in radio-friendly land.

Success certainly has come slowly for The Wrens - it may never come financially, but musically, they've hit the jackpot. 'Meadowlands' is an album of pure indie gold, divine melodies, abundant hooks, genuinely intelligent song writing; the four years this album took to produce was worth it.

Hopeless might be lyrically downcast but its repetitive guitar line has just the perfect amount of variation and, when the loud distortion part kicks in, I realise that the spirit of The Pixies lives on and rocks out so hard. There just aren't enough indie songs around that build up to such dizzying heights as this. The Wrens are a band whose average song is around five minutes; they are keen to milk every melody with the maximum number of hooks without delving into self-indulgence.

The intimate balladry of Thirteen Grand allows the softer side of The Wrens to shine with haunting keyboards and falsetto. The abrasive guitars that open Boys, You Won't approach Fugazi noise, but the addition of piano and acoustic guitar demonstrates a band who paint their deep, rich masterpieces with a varied palette of sounds.

'The Meadowlands' is a passionate and authentic album from a band at the peak of their career. When The Wrens sing "I've walked away from more than you imagine and I sleep just fine," they aren't just singing about the abstract concept of musical integrity, they are a band that has stayed true to themselves and it has paid very big dividends.

Scott Berry