Craig Wedren, the onetime Shudder to Think frontman who is now an in-demand film and TV composer (Yellowjackets, Shrill), has announced The Dream Dreaming, which will be out January 26 via his own Tough Lover Records. It’s his first album since 2017’s Adult Desire, and first since he had a heart attack in 2018.
“D.C. punk, heavy alternative, ‘80s and ‘90s pop, dance music, and soundtracks – the cubicles all fell away and it became a common romper room for the entire history of what I love and where I’m coming from musically,” says Craig of the album. “In the same way I was inviting friends in to do whatever they wanted, it was the same way with all the genres I love. I’m so happy The Dream Dreaming is all-inclusive in that sense.”
The album includes contributions from violinist / string arranger Paul Cartwright, who has worked with everyone from Father John Misty to Olivia Rodrigo, and Awolnation drummer Isaac Carpenter.
The first single from the album is its opening cut, “Fingers on My Face,” which was co-written by Isaac Carpenter and is a rush of widescreen, orchestral synth-rock. “‘Fingers On My Face’ is a time traveling song that takes us backward and forward, from my teens into old age, but always from the perspective of the present,” Craig says. “It’s about the speed of things, and the ever changing, taffy-like experience of time. Mainly, ‘Fingers On My Face’ is a reminder that physical contact is a reliably transcendent force that can help us get out of our heads – regretting or mythologizing the past, worrying about or anticipating the future – and into our bodies in the here-and-now, snapping us out of our trance and connecting us to eternity and to each other.”
You can watch the “Fingers on My Face” video, which Wedren co-directed with Shon Hedges, below.
The Dream Dreaming
01 – Fingers On My Face
02 – Nothing Bad
03 – Pronouns
04 – 52nd St
05 – Going Sane
06 – You Are Not Your Feelings
07 – The New Walking
08 – Play Innocent
09 – All Made Up
10 – The Daily Thank You
11 – On My Tongue
