July 10, 2007

New album from Stephen Fretwell: Man On The Roof (August ’07)

Manchester artist Stephen Fretwell graced my thankful ears with easily one of my top 5 songs I was introduced to in the last year. The slowburn stunner “Emily” is sublimely sad and slightly bitter, one of those bruised and rueful moments of clarity about someone you love(d). But somehow it sounds so winsome, I can’t get enough. One reviewer thought (and I echo), “Emily was actually a great, bleak pop song and one of the most beautiful ‘fuck you’s’ I’ve ever heard whispered on daytime radio.”

If you didn’t catch it the first time around, this is from the Abbey Road-recorded album Magpie, which was his major-label debut (’04 in the UK, ’06 in the US) and went gold:

Emily – Stephen Fretwell

Fretwell is now poised to release his follow-up album to Magpie this August. Titled Man On The Roof, he’s just posted four new tunes from it on his MySpace, and I really like what I am hearing. The first tune is likely to be the first single off the album.

Scar – Stephen Fretwell
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San Francisco Blues – Stephen Fretwell
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Prolific songwriter that he is, Fretwell also just released an EP in May: Four Letter Words is available here, and you can download a free track (called “What”) from that collection on his website.

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1 Comment

  • Fantastic to see another Fretwell fan – I discovered him in May 2004 just before he released his debut album over here. ‘New York’ used to be my favourite of his, but as it happens just yesterday I decided ‘Emily’ is. So. Um. Good choice.

    Woodland Bear — July 15, 2007 @ 10:14 am

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Bio Pic Name: Heather Browne
Location: Colorado, originally by way of California
Giving context to the torrent since 2005.

"I love the relationship that anyone has with music: because there's something in us that is beyond the reach of words, something that eludes and defies our best attempts to spit it out. It's the best part of us, probably, the richest and strangest part..."
—Nick Hornby, Songbook
"Music has always been a matter of energy to me, a question of Fuel. Sentimental people call it Inspiration, but what they really mean is Fuel."
—Hunter S. Thompson

Mp3s are for sampling purposes, kinda like when they give you the cheese cube at Costco, knowing that you'll often go home with having bought the whole 7 lb. spiced Brie log. They are left up for a limited time. If you LIKE the music, go and support these artists, buy their schwag, go to their concerts, purchase their CDs/records and tell all your friends. Rock on.

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