Fred Again – Ten Days Review

After a washed-out Leedsfest performance where the heavens opened, Fred Again said it would not stop us, and we left a few minutes later, reconnecting with the producer was on the agenda. Brian Eno’s protege in everything but sound and style. Ten Days is a collection of thoughts, emotional moments and feelings from the past year for Fred Again, who has hit high after high with performances made for viral TikToks and ketamine-inhaling festival attendees. Ten songs, ten voice notes, from the Huntingdonshire gentry alumni. For a man whose rise to headliners started with Eno acapella groups, it is fascinating to hear tonally vacant works through Ten Days. Not surprising, though. Some have had his number for long enough to know better than to fall for the simple structure of his sound.  

But then there is beauty in simplicity, isn’t there? Background noise serves a purpose and Fred Again does lean slightly into the ambient collaboration he worked on last year. Adore U marks a neat opener but feels like music reserved for garden parties in a London borough than anything lived in or experienced. There is a lack of genuine curiosity from Fred Again which prevents Ten Days from getting anywhere, even with its solid sampling efforts. More of that, and out comes something effective. Ten feels limited too, a tad repetitive and the only major changes made throughout it are, again, the samples. But their placement has little variation and the tightly-knit experience of a better side of Fred Again is lacking, almost absent, from this album. Even with the sense of collaboration coming through, particularly from Anderson .Paak and The Japanese House in later segments, there are few standout moments.  

Softer tones from Just Stand There get to those emotive constructs but remain entirely reliant on SOAK. Even then these are just blueprints for heartfelt endeavours. Fred Again remains an emotionless artist with an ear for the right notes. He cannot bring it out himself and must rely on artists with a passion, but a smaller audience, to do it for him. Places to Be continues this with some better instrumental sections but a flavourless notion to them. Readjust your speed all you like, it makes very little difference when, despite the decent mixtures and well-timed changes of pace, it feels hollow. Catchy bits like Peace U Need do not have the longevity of great house music. They are essentially static – everyday pieces which may falter on closer inspection.  

Such is the quality Fred Again brings, a stage artist through and through. His understanding of production and the merits of his experience can be heard on Ten Days but are not exactly put to the test. An uneventful album which does little to capture the positives of Fred Again as an artist, and even less to provide some tangible set of experiences for these tracks to depend on, feed from and discuss. Loose collections of noise and voice notes without any character or life to them. There is a skill to making music feel so underwhelming but this is lacklustre at best. An artist who works better on the stage, but even then is an underwhelming spectacle of button-pushing boredom.