Freddie Stevenson
All My Strange Companions
© 2008 Juicy Musical Creations (5060140500025)
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Afro'd punk folk music with divine lyrics and perfect melody. Songs to jump around to and songs to fall in love to.
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Check out some reviews of All My Strange Companions and Freddie!
"So damn catchy...you'll want to hear more" - USA TODAY
"Potential just oozes from this Scottish folk punk" - Variety
"Stevenson is a 100% unique rock singer-songwriter and so comparisons are hard to come by. This guy is inevitably going to be hugely successful and this is probably the album that will get that ball really rolling... Strongly recommended." - Left Hip
Freddie Stevenson returns from Nashville, Tennessee a little older and a little wiser with a visceral, raw, and rocking new record All My Strange Companions. How did the Scottish afroʼd punk poet end up in Music City, USA? Accidentally.
Letʼs rewind a minute for perspectiveʼs sake. Not long after Freddie had finished his much lauded debut Body On The Line, he already had a formidable stockpile of new songs. They kept coming until panic set in and he decided that he needed to get some demoed, and ultimately recorded, lest he forget them and they be lost. (Remember that Freddie wiles away his days writing - whether he be sitting in a hotel in New York, or winding down with a whiskey by the fire on the east coast of Scotland.)
November 2006 saw the hunt for a suitable band commence. It soon became apparent that Nashville was oozing with exactly the types of musicians he needed. Phone calls and arrangements were made and soon half of Emmylou Harrisʼ band were in for the long haul. Studios and flights were booked. All that was needed was an engineer to capture everything. Step-forward David Z., Princeʼs legendary engineer and producer.
Between December 2006 and September 2007, songs were recorded and mixed in three separate sessions. The songs kept coming. Collaborations with Hank Williamsʼ granddaughter Holly and Ray Charlesʼ horn section happened. The results speak for themselves: a great British songwriter woven together with flavours of the soul, rhythm and blues that only Nashville can bring.
Listening to All My Strange Companions demonstrates the intricate diversity in Freddieʼs writing. From the instantaneously acoustic-punk sing-a-long opener Easy Now to the woeful, tender pining of Alibi Song, it is immediately clear that Freddieʼs writing is that of a master craftsman. A rare breed who can hone lyrical and melodic hooks from the most wondrous of places. It is little wonder that Mike Scott of The Waterboys declared Freddieʼs song Heart Shaped Stone as one of his top 10 songs of all time.
Musically, All My Strange Companions soars. Its sound spans the intricate weaving acoustic guitar and languished lap steel guitar in The Soft Collapse through to the vicious punk stylings of Ordinary Girl and to the out-and-out catchiness of first single of Easy Now. These are the sounds of four great musicians truly playing live; capturing the raw energy that can only come from honest real performance.
Freddie gigs regularly around the UK, Europe and USA, with residencies in New York and London set for early 2008. His fan base continues to swell and can count amongst its numbers The Office creator and DJ Stephen Merchant, and musician Dave Matthews. Itʼs time you spent a moment with Freddie. Youʼll expose yourself to the UKʼs most vibrant songwriter working today. Youʼll be asking yourself how you have survived without Freddie in your life. You will, in one word, be awesome.
Freddie up. Today.
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Album of the year!
author: Richard GibbonsFreddie Stevenson returns with his second full length album, All My Strange Companions, and it is a resounding success in my opinion. Littered with catchy folk rock-abouts that make you want to jump around, and soothingly thoughtful melodies that caress your ears, this album has the perfect blend of life and love and is one of those rare breeds that happens to be an album you can listen to all the way through, then again and again on repeat. Every song is a winner and Stevenson's lyrics are once again top class, posetry that wraps itself around your mind with the perfect blend of all the great human emotions. For me, this album did something amazing, which was to topple Stevenson's last effort, 'Body On The Line', off my favourite album pedestal. If you don't buy this record, you're truly missing out on one of the experiences of the year.
Treat Your Ears!
author: Brian CranoFreddie Stevenson is the next great folk poet. I could not feel this more strongly. Recently in NYC I caught one of the British singer-songwriter’s gigs and was blown away. He is a tremendous showman. I have not found a more satisfying album top to bottom in recent memory. Stevenson’s sound while entirely fresh and unlike anything I have heard, evokes a warm familiarity on the ears. Like a cardigan given to you by the lost love of your life, when worn, one can’t help but be reminded of Paris or that magic first kiss or that love poem you still keep safe, such feelings are conjured through these 11 accomplished songs. Glints of Dylan’s gruff rock-and-roll, threads of Joni Mitchell’s phrasing and poetry and the shine of Paul Simon’s sweet melodies are at play, but the virtues of these influences exponentially multiply into something extent; that is Stevenson’s whole is greater than the sum of his parts. Wit and wordsmithery unlike any other musician I have heard in an age. With “All My Strange Companions” Stevenson kicks down the door only to then politely introduce himself to the greater muso intellegentsia and we are all greater for it. Though you may have yet to hear of him, take the plunge, I promise your first date with Stevenson won’t be your last.