There are few musicians who occupy the intersection between the soulful smoothness of D’Angelo and the cool indie textures of Talking Heads, but that’s exactly where you’ll find producer, singer and songwriter Frederick, the First. This Los Angeles artist approaches his music with such enthusiasm, unafraid of taking elements from seemingly unabridged genres and mixing them together in his own charismatic way. For us, this amalgamated sound reminds us of Everything Everything or Portugal. The Man. You only need to listen to Frederick‘s newest single ‘Spit You Out’ to discover exactly why we’re so excited by this musician.
From the outset, ‘Spit You Out’ is a bright and optimistic track that’s flush with pop-influenced melodies, chunky bass line, and grooving guitars. It’s such an uplifting sound, one that reflects Frederick‘s vital message of reclaiming your self-worth. In this way, it’s a come back of sorts, from believing the spiteful and poisonous words of doubt to rediscovering one’s own inner power for self-belief.
Here, Frederick, the First speaks about the message that he has intended for listeners to take away from this vibrant alt-pop gem:
“I think anyone who’s ever been alive can relate to the experience of having been told they’re utterly worthless in one way or another and swallowed it whole; walked away and said, “Yeah that’s about right”. Swallowing such poison leads to a slow death, an erosion of every gift that made you great, that made you who you were. And then in pursuit of relief you move to change yourself as you mistakenly chase an ideal of who you should be or should have been but only according to another. Then almost as if by some stroke of luck, or the grace of God Himself, you wake up to find that you had been fighting a monstrous shadow on the wall cast by a mouse in the candle light. You swallowed it all and all of it was trash. They were wrong, you were right and it’s time for a purging, a cleansing, it’s time to spit it out.”
This relatability is essential to ‘Spit You Out’, which is also mirrored in the dynamic sonic journey that should appeal to a wide audience. You might be the type of listener who digs those rich, unrelenting bass lines, or you might appreciate the quirky vocal inflections, or you might wish to sing-along to the playful “woo-woo” vocals. There’s practically something for everyone and what’s even more impressive is that Frederick, the First makes the mixture sound cohesive. We’re in no doubt that this one is a true original.
You can also find ‘Spit You Out’ in our Shades of Pop playlist.
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