Fred Gibson, also known as house musician Fred Again, is among the most well-connected individuals in the music industry.
As a teen, he was mentored by Brian Eno, and he rose to prominence as a writer-producer with hits. Such as George Ezra’s Shotgun, Ed Sheeran’s Bad Habits, Stormzy’s Own It, and Charli XCX’s After The Afterparty.
The British named him producer of the year in 2020. He was the youngest recipient of the award at age 26.
Simultaneously, he embarked on a solo career, releasing a trilogy of albums. That fused house beats with everyday sounds and cell phone conversations.
In contrast to the escapist nature of most dance music, his songs are personal and heartfelt. The first book in his Actual Life series was inspired by a friend who fell ill and died. And the second is about overcoming that pain.
Fred Again’s emotional electronica is second
The third album, which sees his world reopening after the pandemic. Debuted at number four on the UK album charts in October.
“For me, the narrative arc of the albums reflects a shifting relationship with grief,” he says. “However, it has become many different things to many different people. This is a beautiful thing.”
The influence of those records has earned Fred Again second place on the BBC’s Sound Of 2023 list. With experts such as Dua Lipa, Pete Tong, Sam Smith, and Emily Eavis predicting mainstream success for him in the coming year.
In the top five, he joins electronic artist Nia Archives, soul band Gabriels, and singer-songwriter Cat Burns. The winner will be announced on Thursday on BBC Radio 1.
Gibson was born and raised in Balham, south London. And demonstrated an early aptitude for music by studying piano and tuned percussion instruments such as the marimba and xylophone. Before moving on to drums and guitar – enabling him to compose entire songs on his own.
At the age of eight, he began recording classical piano pieces on his aunt’s tape recorder. When he was sent to boarding school in Wiltshire, he frequently skipped classes to spend time in the music room.
A family friend invited him to join a local Capella group, which was led by Brian Eno, the ambient music pioneer and producer for David Bowie, Talking Heads, U2, and Coldplay, when he was 16 years old.
“It took me quite a while to realize”
Eno mentored the young musician after hearing his composition An Electronic Symphony, which featured rappers, singers, and a 50-piece school orchestra.
Soon after, Gibson was working at Eno’s studio, making tea, running errands, and obsessing over vintage synthesizers, while simultaneously working on his music. In 2014, Eno invited him to co-produce two albums with Karl Hyde of Underworld.
However, Eno rejected the notion that he “mentored” the adolescent, stating that they both learned equally.
“I observed that he was brilliant… However, I did not comprehend much of what he was doing “He stated to Apple Music. “It took me quite a while to realize, “Oh my gosh, this is a truly novel way to make music!”
“His pieces are non-linear in nature. They do not possess the same homogeneity as, for example, loop-based music.”
Gibson admits that he avoids the typical verse-chorus structures of pop songs, but he cannot explain why.
“It could be because I came from a classical music background,” he speculates. “It could be! But I have no idea!”
Digital diaries
As his fame grew, however, he was drawn into the world of verse-chorus, producing high-profile tracks for Little Mix, Ellie Goulding, Shawn Mendes, and Clean Bandit.
Then, the head of Atlantic Records suggested that he collaborate with Ed Sheeran on the assumption that they would get along.
Gibson told Music Business Worldwide last year, “We did.” “Even if you’re not feeling on top of your game, we have a very similar strategy for overcoming obstacles.
“Because things can be alchemical, you can overcome a level of feeling a bit rotten and suddenly good things can occur.”
Gibson produced the majority of the tracks on Sheeran’s No. 6 Collaborations Project and, by the end of 2019, was credited for producing thirty percent of the year’s number-one singles.
According to him, the most important thing he learned from working with these A-list celebrities was to trust his instincts.
“Burna Boy would be the best illustration of instinct’s power,” he says.
“Like, he just lets it flow out of him, and I believe the majority of his energy is spent on fostering environments where this can occur most freely. Whether it is where you are, who you are with, or anything else, that is the thing worth preserving.”
Eno persuaded him to leave the pop world by sending him a text message that simply read: “Stop it, Fred! It’s time to return to your work!”
The musician required little encouragement.
“From the time I was about 12 to the time I was 22,” he recalls, “so it felt more like returning, to be honest!”
His debut single, Kyle (I Found You), was released late in 2019. It was impressionistic and ephemeral, capturing the hazy sensation of colliding with someone on the dancefloor and falling in love momentarily.
“In the smoking chaos, our shoulder blades kissed, and I found you,” recite the words of poet MC Guante, whose work Gibson discovered on Instagram.
Many of his songs are culled from Gibson’s digital life, pitch-shifted, cut and stretched into evocative, shimmering dance music.
Occasionally, he says, hundreds or even thousands of attempts are required to find the proper context for a sample.
So how does he determine when he is correct?
“You don’t!” he exclaims. “I believe it’s akin to a feeling in the stomach. Something that compels you to fight for it, or even be protective of it.”
Concerned that he might misrepresent their words, he is equally protective of the Instagram and YouTube users he samples.
This was especially true on the track Sabrina (I Am a Party), which he based on the performance artist Sabrina Benaim’s monologue Explaining My Depression to My Mother.
“I did not enjoy creating that song for the most part,” he recalls.
“I was sweating profusely and panicking because I was uncertain whether or not I was warping her spirit.”
Based on humanity
However, Benaim adored the outcome due to the care Gibson put into the song.
She remarked to the New York Times, “He handled the emotional core of it so well.” “It was as if I had left my body.”
“Sabrina’s response was so sweet,” Gibson says. “Since then, I’ve met her at concerts; she was at Coachella, watching herself on the screen!
The fact that people like her are so kind and accepting of what I’ve done has unquestionably made it seem more acceptable.
Gibson is motivated by a desire to “connect and share” the ups and downs of real life, and it is noteworthy that he has not abused his phonebook of famous friends to populate his albums.
2021’s Marea
Even when a familiar name appears on one of his songs, it’s Romy from The xx, Baxter Dury, or Berwyn – artists who inhabit similar emotional spaces of humanity and heartache.
Gibson rejects even the sterile confines of the recording studio, preferring to create music on his iPhone in train stations or while sitting on London’s South Bank as life continues.
“Having people around affects the music in every way,” he says.
“That is the most important factor for me. Like a conveyor belt of people who inspire you consciously and subconsciously.”
The absence of human interaction during lockdown inspired his breakthrough single.
2021’s Marea (We’ve Lost Dancing) sampled a conversation he had with “rave shaman” The Blessed Madonna regarding Covid’s impact on nightclubs.
“We’ve lost dancing, as well as hugs with friends and loved ones. These items that we took for granted “She remarked.
“If I can survive the next six months day by day, the next six months will be marvelous.”
It was a moving requiem for the life we had lost, with a tinge of hope for the future, but when clubs and festivals reopened last year, the song changed. Its oscillating synths and elegiac vocals became a celebration, a catharsis, and a release, and helped shape the club-oriented sound of Actual Life 3.
What occurs after the conclusion of the trilogy is a closely guarded secret. However, Gibson’s transition from hired producer to solo artist is complete.
“I’ve been completely transformed by how people have received the music. 100%, “He claims.
“Now, I compose music for a different purpose. I don’t think I can comprehend it because I’m in the middle of it, but I’m sure there have been significant changes.
And I will be eternally grateful to those who have made this case.
