Fred again.. – ten days

Hello everyone. This is Eathony Cattano, the internet’s busiest music nerd. It’s time for a review of the new Fred again.. album, Ten days.

Yep, here we have the latest full-length LP from Electronic Dance Music’s newest It Boy, Fred Gibson, a. KA Fred again.., a British producer and Grammy winner whose meteoric rise to fame over the last few years has led to some really interesting collaborations. I mean, if Fred again.. has proven anything over the last few years, it’s versatility, as he’s made some very successful and enjoyable tracks with the likes of Lil Yachty, Skrillex, a whole album with Brian frickin Eno, Romy too, Swedish House Mafia. I mean, the collaborations are piling up.

Now mind you, in my opinion a lot of Fred’s output up until now has been, more or less, a hodgepodge. But still, it’s impressive that one man can do so much and that he’s generated the buzz that he’s created from these very DIY dance records that are very contemplative, moody, sometimes diary-like, really like a reflection of his life in a way, which still seems to be the aim of this latest album here, Ten days.

But it is important to note that while Fred was working creatively in the same way, as he produced his final work, his environment Real life album in 2022, have changed a lot. And he seems to be taking full advantage of that changing environment with a star-studded roster of features, from Anderson Paak to Sampa to Skrillex. But I wouldn’t say that Fred’s commercial success and the connections he’s made have really changed the way he operates in terms of production, making music in general. I mean, it’s not like he just threw in a bunch of inappropriate, weird, out-of-nowhere, super commercially viable appearances and guests on this LP. There’s a lot more crossover that, in my opinion, is more unexpected.

It’s clear that the involvement of various people on this album is driven more by Fred’s passion for their talents and their music than anything else. He’s still not afraid to deliver things with a raw presentation, and even makes sure to perpetuate the idea that this album is a product of my daily life and experiences with ten interludes that fit in with the ten main core tracks on the album of what sound like snippets of random events and interactions in his life.

But to be true to Fred, this whole project has resulted in a listening experience that I personally found very disappointing and on some tracks almost disastrous.

But before I get into why, I want to emphasize that this album isn’t all bad. “Adore You,” featuring Nigerian singer and songwriter Obongjayar, is one of the most refreshing crossovers and collaborations on the record. The song is feel-good without being sickeningly sweet, and there’s also a great rhythmic breakdown around the song’s bridge that lands really well.

There’s also “Glow” featuring Duskus, Four Tet and Skrillex, which starts off a bit lame, but the journey this song takes you on is easily the best on the entire record. I actually wish more songs like this one went above and beyond. The rest of the album, however, is definitely missing something in my opinion, whether it’s the various interludes on the record that don’t really give the listener anything more than a sense of, I guess you had to be there.

There are also collaborations on this album that I feel could have used a bit more care, texture, detail, attention, taste, basically anything to prevent it from coming across as a run-of-the-mill locker room dance pop song. This goes for the songs “Peace U Need” and “Ten”.

There’s also “Where Will I Be” with Emmylou Harris, which is essentially a rehash of an Emmylou song from the ’90s. But the context in which they’re presented in this new version of the song just isn’t flattering. Emmylou’s vocals sound so hollow and shrill, plus the pumping layers of synth going off in the background, I don’t think it’s the best backdrop for her very folksy singing style. And that’s not to mention the progression of the song, which is terrible. It feels like it’s building up to a payoff that never really comes.

There’s also “Just Stand There,” which features spoken word passages from Irish singer and songwriter Soak, which for me is the most boring song on this entire album. This has nothing to do with Soak, mind you. Their appearance here isn’t really a reflection on their talents or writing skills, or even the validity of this retelling of a romantic interaction explained in this spoken word section. It’s more what Fred does with it, which to me isn’t much. Just throwing this minimalist electro piano piece under it. It just sounds like you’re trying to make a soundtrack piece for a voice note your friend left on your phone, nothing more than that.

There’s also “Fearless”, an attempt at a dramatic synthpop number with vocals from Sampha. But despite my high expectations for this song, it also falls short, not only because of the recording and EQ of Sampha’s voice. And again, it just sounds so tinny and thin, but the structure gives this song little power. It’s clear that Fred still needs to work on his songwriting skills here. But moreover, he doesn’t have the balls to sing on this song, and vocally he doesn’t sound anywhere near Sampha’s class. I’d even say there’s little to no vocal chemistry on this song.

When Fred later on the record goes on a more solo vocal adventure with “I Saw You”, it just sounds like an unmemorable intermezzo from a Coldplay album. What’s the appeal of this? It’s a question I keep asking myself as this album progresses.

Since the closing track is the definition of lame, I feel like we’ve been here before with a Moby record or two. And then there’s “Places to Be” with Anderson .Paak and Chika, which is conveniently one of the better tracks here in terms of groove and just generally engaging. But even this track comes across as the soundtrack for a tourism ad.

Yeah, I feel like on this record one thing and one thing only is made clear, and that is that Fred is just making music for himself and is not desperate to go out of his way to impress anyone. Yeah, I feel like if that’s basically your modus operandi, the result is going to be some deeply unimpressive music at times, and that’s why I feel like I have a decent to strong 3 on this thing.

Anthony Fantano. Fred again.. Forever.