Review Summary: Fred is Fred Again
In 2021, Fred Again..’s Actual Life captured a collective moment. With his sincere and endearing style, Fred gave voice to the collective emotional pain we were all feeling as a consequence of the pandemic. Using samples from conversations, voice memos or random snippets from youtube videos, Fred crafted house bangers that celebrated life while simultaneously acknowledging the collective sense of loss we felt from having to spend so much of our lives inside. With songs like 'Kyle (i Found You)', 'Angie (i’ve been lost)', and 'Marea (we’ve lost dancing)', Fred was saying: this pandemic sucks, but it’ll get better and in the meanwhile we can find connection in our collective experience. Many of us needed that. This was a different type of dance music - some people even dubbed it therapy house or emo electronic.
People noticed and Fred enjoyed overnight success. As the pandemic came to an end and shows became possible again, Fred sold out multiple tours and headlined numerous festivals. He was still riding a collective moment, but this time one of ecstasy at the world opening up again. This must have had an effect on his music. Real Life 2 was a good follow up, but on Real Life 3, released at the end of 2022, something felt different. The album felt less authentic somehow, like Fred was just executing a formula (e.g. on 'Bleu (better with time)'). It felt overdone. Or rather, the moment had passed.
Thankfully, Fred pivoted away from his Actual Life blueprint. On tour with Skrillex and Four Tet, he started releasing collaboratory club bangers. On tracks like Baby again.., Rumble and Jungle Fred and his collaborators are not messing around. Gone was the therapy, we're here to party! A compilation of these songs was released in 2022 under the name USB, but this got an extended release as a full 66 minute album early 2024. They’re great songs, but they do miss the magic of Real Life, or rather, it’s a different type of magic.
With Ten Days, Fred has thankfully found a way to move beyond the Real Life formula while still retaining some of the genuine and endearing qualities that made those albums great. The emo electronic is back with tracks such as ‘just stand there’ and ‘i saw you’, but Fred has also managed to sneak in some USB like club bangers in the middle with tracks such as ‘places to be’ and ‘glow’. Some of the other tracks are moody, but in a seemingly more mature, or at least less obvious, way (e.g. ‘fear less’ and ‘backseat’). The increased role of guest vocalists as opposed to just found samples probably contributed to this development.
Technically, the album isn’t that impressive. A successful producer before he started releasing records under his own name, Fred Again.. has a light but effective touch. This has recently earned him some criticism with Afrojack stating in an interview that Fred’s song ‘ten’ is just four splice samples layered on top of each other. Although this criticism might be a bit blunt, there is an element of truth to it. Fred’s music is quite simple.
None of the songs are individually overly memorable, but personally, after listening to the Ten Days, I can’t help but be in a great mood. I end up feeling like I’ve just lost an emotional load. Kind of like I’ve just went to therapy..
