A smoldering, poignant elegy to love long gone, Alexander Wren’s “The Earth Is Flat” aches with the heavy heart of acceptance and unrequited love.
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Stream: “The Earth Is Flat” – Alexander Wren
A smoldering, poignant elegy to love long gone, Alexander Wren’s recent single aches with the heavy heart of acceptance and solemn resignation. An intimate indie folk outpouring of unrequited love, “The Earth Is Flat” is a bittersweet, stirring surrender.
The weather man’s the only one
That’s talkin’ in this house
Frozen dinners, different rooms
You’ve been sleepin’ on the couch
It don’t take an Einstein to know
That our love used up its
flair gun a long, long time ago
Go on honey tell me that this thing’s still love
And heaven is below us
Hell is up above
The sky is green
The grass is blue
Race-cars don’t go fast
Aw, honey, you love me
And yah, the earth is flat
Independently released September 18, 2020, “The Earth Is Flat” arrived this fall as Alexander Wren’s second single of 2020, following August’s release “Had Me at Goodbye.” A cinematic singer/songwriter from Nashville, Tennessee, Wren has racked up millions of music streams over the past four years – thanks as much to his arresting sonics, as to his expressive vocals and poetic lyricism. His debut EP The Good in Goodbye released in 2016, followed by the Assorted Love Songs EP in 2018. “The Earth is Flat” marks the first single off Wren’s forthcoming full-length debut album.
A ballad quite unlike any other Wren has released to date, “The Earth Is Flat” is a soft and tender alt-folk ballad inviting introspection and plaintive reminiscing.
Written by Wren and Lauren Weintraub, the song focuses around the artist’s voice and a raw, muted electric guitar, alongside a dampened yet nonetheless expressive saxophone that adds a world of dampened color to a stark scene. Wren’s voice meanwhile holds center stage, painting a somber and pained portrait of an expired romance through vivid lyricism and metaphor. The chorus line “the Earth is flat” is a tongue-in-cheek nod to the notion that, in order to believe their love is still alive, Wren would first have to believe that the Earth is flat. Melancholy and hypnotizing all at once, Wren’s performance is simply spellbinding.
Now, you might bring me roses
A couple times a year
The other 364
It’s like I ain’t even here
We could keep on playin’ make believe
They say that ignorance is bliss but, hey, ain’t this misery?
Go on honey tell me that this thing’s still love
And heaven is below us
Hell is up above
The sky is green
The grass is blue
Tomorrow’s in the past
Aw, honey, you love me
And yah, the earth is flat
Originating from the title’s phrase, Wren explains that he “kept on thinking of a situation where it’d be easier for someone to convince you of something absolutely absurd before they could convince you that they truly loved you.” Speaking to Atwood Magazine, he dives deep into the song’s creation:
“So this tune is actually a rare sort of outlier for me,” Wren explains. “Writing is such a personal and introspective thing for me that it usually always comes from an experiential place – from a specific event that happened in my life. But for this song that wasn’t the case. I wasn’t in this sort of caustic relationship that bore the idea. Quite honestly, I was probably dating the best girl I’ve had to date when I wrote this song – funny how that works… So this song solely started as a lyrical ‘hook’ (as we like to call it in Nashville- haha!) that randomly came to me a year or so earlier: the earth is flat. I kept mulling over a scenario in my head where it would be easier for someone to convince you of something absolutely absurd like the earth being flat before they could convince you that they truly loved you. I was really pleased with that phrase as a title as well. It has some sort of nonsensicalness to it, an absurdity to it. A shock. But most importantly, I felt as if it had the element of surprise working for it. I mean, with a name like, ‘The Earth is Flat’, you’d think it’d be an anthem for flat-earthers and conspiracy theorists alike… But it’s really well over a minute into the song before you even hear that hook line mentioned. All that to say, lyrically speaking, I think the song turned into something special that almost has a sort of punch line to it. And not in a kitschy sort of way; in a sucker punch or light bulb moment sort of way- if that makes any sense?”
“Musically speaking the song is very simple. The song was originally written with just four chords- a very Hank Williams traditional country/western sort of move. I really admire this approach more often than not. As a listener, I don’t want people to give me smoke and mirrors. I don’t usually want people to ‘wow’ me with their musical skill. I just want something simple and something true. However, during the recording process, Micah, my friend and producer that I work with, wanted to start messing around with some different chord flavors- most prominently heard in the jazz movement on the piano at the very end of the song. And I will say, I’m glad that we ended up experimenting and going down that road. To me it seemed to give the song a three dimensional quality to it. Before that revision, the song was effective in an unrequited sort of way. But after injecting that one small area with a few different chords it just seemed to open up into this new atmosphere that was no longer just sad, but also bittersweet. To me, it gave the song more of a character development, if you will… Now, not only is it a song of unrequitedness, but it’s a song of nostalgia and longing for the thing that once was. Purley musically speaking, the changeup kind of brought the song into this 50’s country realm- an era where the genre was closely related to jazz and the American Songbook. Think Patsy Cline, Willie Nelson, or Skeeter Davis. And in everything I do I’m really just trying to graze that. That timeless sort of writing that’s honest and straightforward, and beautiful regardless of the musical interpretation- simplistic folksong or jazz improvisation. Yah, that sort of chameleon approach to songwriting is everything that I love about music- it’s everything that I’m striving to be.”
“Listening to the song now, it’s different than I ever would have thought it would turn out- but in the best way. And that’s really why I love working with Micah, and I’d like to think I’ve learned quite a bit from him. Everything he touches turns out stranger than I would have imagined. Nothing is ever predictable. But again, I’ve really learned to see the beauty in that. I forget for what reason, but yesterday I was describing the sound of the song to somebody and I said something to the effect of… it’s like if Elliot Smith and Irving Berlin recorded a country record in space- haha! But jokes aside, again, I think the song really turned out to be a special thing. From a songwriting perspective I’m pleased. It does it’s job effectively, and it employs colorful illustrations. And from a production side, to me, it seems to do the job as well- feeling classic but strangely at the same time modern. Don’t ask me why- I can’t really put my finger on it. I guess it’s just something in the juju- haha!”
And moving forward this is the direction I see my music leaning into. Many chase nostalgia and many try to chase trend. Not that these are inherently bad at all- but somewhere in between those two worlds lives a delicate balance that might be described as timelessness. And again, not to say that my music is timeless; that’s just the bullseye that I’m shooting for now. When I started in this industry I wanted to be the popular singer- the trendy guy. Then I got a little older and wanted to be the ‘indie’ guy- maybe the more nostalgic of the two. Now, I’m just interested in trying to be timeless- whether that goes over well or like a led balloon. Now I’m just interested in trying to be me. And I guess the completion of this one just feels like an affirmation- like a step in the right direction.”
We could keep on playing make believe
Just ignore Columbus; hell, it’s third-grade geography
Go on honey tell me that this thing’s still love
Like heaven is below us
Hell is up above
The sky is green
The grass is blue
A wedding dress is black
Aw, honey, you love me
Keep on tellin’ yourself that
Wren recently released his third single of 2020 – the cute, buoyant, and nihilistic “Everything Is Meaningless.” In stark contrast to its predecessor, this upbeat track wears a happy, Beatles-esque sound over heavier subject matter – showcasing Wren’s diverse palate, as well as his ability to thrive in uptempo and downtempo spaces alike.
As for “The Earth Is Flat,” the song resonates with all who have felt the stinging loss of love and found themselves dwelling in silence’s reprieve. A quiet, brooding, and heartfelt upheaval, “The Earth Is Flat” is a moving listen and a telling offering from an artist we’ll be paying close attention to in the months and years to come.
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Stream: “The Earth Is Flat” – Alexander Wren
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? © Landon Edwards
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