Fred again.. releases his latest album with nothing to prove. His star has blown up so quickly in the past few years – smashing it at Glastonbury in 2023, selling out multiple nights in Alexandra Palace a few months later, embarking on an impromptu world tour in 2024 – that you’d be forgiven for thinking he just wants to have a bit of a holiday from the media circus.
Well, wrong. ten days is now out, amid massive social media fanfare, and it sees the electronic music star pivoting from his usual dance-friendly, beat-heavy fare in favour of something more laid back and introspective.
Does it work? That’s more up for debate. Though ten days is certainly more chilled out than some of his previous fare, it still retains that intimate, confessional tone that Fred again.. excels at – cribbing voice-notes from his phone and laying them over beats in something that he’s previously referred to as a diary of sorts.
The album alternates those voice notes with tracks, telling the story of ten important days in his life. As he puts it, “really very small quiet intimate moments. Some of them are like the most intensely joyful things I’ve ever felt, and some are not that.”
Yes, it’s vague, but it's catnip for the megafans, who’ll likely be combing through every clip in search of clues as to what it’s about. The tracks themselves are slightly more of a mixed bag, but almost all of them feature collaborations with some of the industry’s most interesting artists.
There’s the bouncy, summery adore u with Obongjayar, which was released last year. That’s followed by ten, another prior release, which blends electronica with some more traditional songwriting work by Jim Legxacy.
The first new track we get is the echoing, ephemeral fear less, where Sampha’s vocals soar against the propulsive piano what is the most straightforward pop song on the record and feels like a tribute to lazy summer road trips with friends.
Throughout it all, relatable voicenotes abound. Fred himself takes the helm in i saw you to muse about “being halfway under and halfway out... learning what I can and can’t do without,” through heavily distorted and echoing vocals. What does that mean? Who knows, but it sure sounds pretty.
Later on, Irish songwriter Soak pops up in the sparse just stand there to rhapsodise about being “alive and I can feel it”. A song to play at the end of the night, when everybody is falling asleep on the sofa, perhaps – unlike the quietly excellent glow, made with regular collaborators Duskus, Skrillex and Four Tet, which features no words but layers harmonies on harmonies to create something rather special.
It's some of the most heartfelt stuff that Fred again.. has ever put out, but it’s also some of the least catchy, calling to mind some of his earlier albums rather than the breakthrough dancefloor bangers of Actual Life 3.
The album excels in delivering vague platitudes and statements of affirmation against soothing backing music.
In one later track, peace u need, collaborators Joy Anonymous are wasted in delivering something so relaxed it’s practically horizontal, alongside a prayer for the song’s addressee to “get the peace you need.” And that’s before we get to the final song, backseat, which never really gets going and bows out with a lazy handwave.
It’s an easy-going listen, perfect for putting on in the background during a BBQ with friends. An album that’s all about the quiet moments after the club, when the sky is getting light. An album to release in June, at the very start of summer. But as the autumn closes in, what we needs are songs to dance to: something propulsive, fun. These are not it.
