Fred Again.. is one part DJ, one part poet. Meet the Grammy best new artist nominee
The Recording Academy’s nominations for best new artist runs the gamut of musical genres. From electronica to Americana, bedroom pop to R&B, the nominees represent a class as varied as the industry itself.
Among those artists is Fred Again.., a producer whose emotion-drenched brand of club beats has taken the dance music scene by storm. With tracks that overlay vocalists and poets atop heavy synth, his unique strain of storytelling stands out in the genre.
"Actual Life" 1, 2, and 3 ?the trilogy of albums that propelled him to fame ? represents a departure from making hits for other headliners. Now directly in the spotlight, here's a look at the potential Grammy winner's climb to stardom.
Who is Fred Again..?
Born Frederick Gibson, the 30-year-old singer and DJ didn’t start releasing his own music until 2019. In the years prior, he worked with big names like Ed Sheeran, BTS and Ellie Goulding on producing their songs.
It was at the urging of Brian Eno, Gibson's mentor and a star producer in his own right, that he launched a solo career.
A bit of a mockingbird, Gibson samples the world he hears around him; pulling from R&B tracks, spoken word poets, and even Instagram Lives. The result is a cacophony that is one part dance anthem, one part sonnet.
The formula for a Fred Again.. song, crudely, is: a found vocal, from the far reaches of the internet or Gibson's day-to-day, recast with a club beat and sometimes sewn together with his own singing.
On "Kyle (I Found You)," for example, Gibson bookends the track with poetry from an open mic night. "In this smoking chaos, our shoulder blades kissed," the poet reads over a metronomic beat, a layer of heavy breathing and ethereal synth. Suddenly not just a means to dance, the song's thesis becomes about cosmic connection, and holding onto someone else when the world spins into chaos.
Electronic, but not in an NTZ-NTZ way, the music has a sort of "crying in the club rn" energy – but literally – that allows for the full emotional spectrum to be felt on a night out.
What genre is Fred Again..?
Most often billed as EDM, Gibson's music has a shape-shifting quality that could easily place it in several other categories. Pop, for example, or alternative.
His Summer 2022 boiler room set, which did as much as anything to propel him to stardom, particularly in the U.S., demonstrates the hardware-heavy, production process.
Combining ambient noises, snippets of speech and honest-to-god singing, the tracks form a sort of sonic tapestry that exists in the space between balladry and disc jockeying.
How did Fred Again.. get famous?
Gibson’s origin story starts at a party thrown by Eno. Gibson, still a teenager, accompanied a friend who happened to be Eno's neighbor to one of the producer's legendary acapella sessions.
Impressed by Gibson’s production chops, Eno asked him to assist with some projects. Once he reached a certain level of success working for other artists, it was Eno again who urged him to zone in on his own tracks. The return on investment was swift.
With just shy of 17 million monthly listeners on Spotify, and an international tour under his belt, the Grammy nomination is just the latest accolade in his rise as a solo artist.
Did you catch that Tiny Desk concert?
Known for reintroducing an artist to their audience in a new light, NPR's Tiny Desk concert took that mission to a new level with Gibson.
In a stripped-down version of his hits, he plays the piano and xylophone as video footage of the found audio plays, giving fans a glimpse at the marrow of the songs. Without the heavy production, the part of Gibson's artistry that sets him apart is on full display.
The tracks have a way of reaching inside you and plucking some vibrating steel string you didn’t know was there.
Is Fred Again.. on tour?
Gibson is on the lineup at music festivals including Bonnaroo in June.
This past year, he worked his way through some major US cities with shows from Los Angeles to New York and performed with Skrillex at Coachella.
Meet the other best new artist nominees
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Who is Fred Again..? The sonic-engineer is nominated for a Grammy
