Aeon Station Shares New Single 'Alpine Drive'

"'Home' was meant to represent a person, a place or feeling where we find ourselves at peace, are connected to the present and hopeful for the future," says Kevin Whelan of Sub Pop recording artists' Aeon Station about his new single "Alpine Drive."

Closing out his hotly-anticipated and critically-hailed debut album Observatory (release date: December 10, 2021) which UNCUT calls a "solo triumph (9/10)" and New York Times calls "the best music Whelan has ever made," "Alpine Drive" is a poignant track that longs for a feeling of "home" appropriately concluding an album awash in emotion, reflection and melodies that were touchstones of his other band The Wrens. "I felt 'Alpine Drive' was the perfect song to end the album as it represents an end to a journey. The paths we walk on are unpredictable, complicated, and long but ultimately, we are all striving to find our way 'home'."

Gently hinting at the holidays with its elegiac instrumentation, the track "evoked feelings of winter and nostalgia for me," he continues about the song which was originally written in 2013. "Like old Christmas songs where you hear and feel the longing to reunite with your family, the lyrics described my desire to be home with my wife and kids, especially after a stressful day or long business trip away from them. My journey home to them would always start with a call or text to my wife with the words 'I'm on my way...'."

With The Wrens' The Meadowlands (2003) in the rearview mirror, Whelan has been forging a formidable path forward with Aeon Station. His previous single "Fade" whose sci fi-tinged video was directed by acclaimed video director Laurent Briet (Beyoncé, The Strokes) floored Brooklyn Vegan who called it "a climactic, indie rock song powered by busy, propulsive drumming and the kinds of soaring vocal melodies that made The Meadowlands so great." His previously released singles "Queens" which Pitchfork found "thrilling" and was crowned "Song of the Day" by KEXP and "Leaves" ("a heart-wrenching ballad of self-enduring trials and defeat" - SPIN) were met with equal applause. More than a decade in the making, Observatory shines a bright light on Kevin's songwriting, receiving help on assorted tracks from his Wrens bandmates Jerry MacDonald (drums) and Greg Whelan (guitar) and producer/guitarist Tom Beaujour.

With the long-awaited debut of Observatory positioned at the end of this week, Kevin can finally exhale and reflect on its release. Fittingly, "Alpine Drive" works as both a bookend to the tracklisting and the album's release as a whole, as well as an open door for the next chapter for his protracted life in music. "The lyrics are an honest reflection of my music 'career'," he says thoughtfully. "... the lost years of wishing, working and not achieving the dreams of my youth, finding peace with that, and ultimately finding the path back home."

Observatory will be released on December 10, 2021 via Sub Pop. The album and its skyblue vinyl pressing can be ordered directly here.

Listen to the new single here:

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