John Andrew Frederick may have an aversion to Capital Letters, but musically he seems to be in a world of his own. Few write similar songs, yet every offering has a wide range of stuff to admire. He surrounds himself with great musicians that add different things to the mix.
Gretchen's Wheel's Lindsay Murray adds velvet Backing Vocals and Ben Eshbach adds Piccalo Trumpet, yes that's Piccolo Trumpet, to the title track. Two of my favourite musicians are a bonus on a recording that I always know will never be less than interesting.
That song will be on the new album, Future Strangers, to be released early next year. It kicks off with a Peter Hook type Bass run and then mesmerizes for just over three minutes. Frederick with his Steve Kilbey like vocal, a vibe that is psychedelic, but changes into Psych Pop with Eshbach's contribution. Murray's vocal should be out of kilter, but fits perfectly.
The other two songs will only be released here. Precious little could be Space Rock, but also has a real Goth feel and Frederick's vocal is close to David Sylvian. It all revolves around a killer riff and Bernard Yin's Lead Guitar dazzles throughout the EP.
Living Backwards is the most straight forward of the three songs. The Riff is more akin to West Coast Rock and the chorus is as close to Pop Rock as The Black Watch are likely to get. Plus there's an outstanding hypnotic instrumental journey accompanying the second half that rounds off an exceptional EP.
You can listen to or buy the EP here. I'd also direct you to Mick Dillingham's comprehensive interview with John Andrew Frederick from two years ago here.
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