Secret Friend “The Divorce Album”
Songwriter Steven Fox is back as the enigmatic Secret Friend with a new series of songs split into two sides and sung by a variety of artists, including some power pop favorites. Side One is six new songs produced by Secret Friend. Side Two has the exact same six songs produced by other artists. The sides do compete with each other, so you could mix your own perfect EP here. Fox is a talented songwriter and knows how to create ambiance. All the performances are good, but some tracks stand out more than others.
The opener “Castaway” sung by Taylor Locke (Rooney) is an amazing song with layer upon layers of harmonies and makes good use of the double meaning of the song title. And while Roger J. Manning Jr. (Jellyfish) does a great job on “Undeniably Blue,” it drags on for over 7 minutes. Jimm McIver’s “Difficult” is more in keeping with the theme, and the chorus is catchy here. The band Perfectly Violent Dream does a great job with their version of “All The Things We Had.” I also liked Wyatt Funderburk’s version of “Over Now,” from the guy’s POV. Overall, a good album to pick through.
Nick Frater “Goodbye Kayfabe” EP
Nick Frater is a multi-instrumentalist from Croydon, UK. He starts out with an impressive opener “Built To Last,” one of the best retro-Raspberries singles I’ve heard this year. It’s almost impossible to top, but “Paperchase” leads with a nice tropical beat and a solid chorus.
“More Than This” is another strong melody that is like a mix of Squeeze and Andrew Gold. The bouncy “Remoaner” is another winner that sounds like BBC sitcom theme with a little Jeff Lynne in its DNA. Overall not a bad track, and one of the better EPs I’ve heard this year. Highly Recommended.
