Last week I was introduced to Fred again.. with his NPR Music “Tiny Desk Concert”→ (on YouTube) from April 2023. I’ve watched that and listened to his 3 Actual Life albums and Boiler Room London DJ set repeatedly over the past days to collect my thoughts on this remarkable musician.
Working with a looper behind the desk, he staged an acoustic-electric rendition of some of his Actual Life songs. Playing marimba, upright piano, drumming on a table, tapping the pads of the Maschine sampler to cue voices singing, talking, spoken word poetry autotuned into melodies (all shown on a vertical screen in the background), and singing parts himself, he produced an intimate performance of his diary of lockdown and pandemic times.
Ending the show, “Faisal (envelops me)” culminated in a euphoric minimalistic crescendo of marimba strikes, a stark difference to the original song.
His ability to change up versions of his songs for so many mixes is awe-inspiring.