Description
After an absence of 13 years Stephen Fretwell releases his long-awaited third album, Busy Guy via Speedy Wunderground. Described by Fretwell as a song cycle of sorts, the album examines the seasons of a life, exploring fatherhood, grief and rebirth, with Fretwells trademark eloquence and wit. Busy Guy was produced by Fretwells close friend and Speedy Wunderground label boss, Dan Carey. They recorded the whole thing one hot July afternoon in just two hours. I was so fired up, I just rattled off the songs, Fretwell says. I assumed it was the run-through, but Dan said he thought wed got it. The next day, Carey assembled a palate of sound involving keyboards and an electric guitar. Dan said, Im just going to react to the songs over the next few hours, and thats the finished record, besides some cello. The album title was also Careys idea. Fretwell explains: Years ago, Dan asked why I always carried a copy of The Guardian, a notebook and a pen when all I did was go to the pub. I said: if you go to the pub at 11am with a newspaper, a notebook and pen, you look like a busy guy rather than a pisshead. It became a joke between us. The joke too is that I didnt do any music for years. The album was recorded at Dean Street Studios in Soho, not far from where Fretwell now lives, and London looms large on the record, in titles like Oval and Embankment: stops on the Tube, and urban images shimmer as Fretwell captures a city full of pride and secrets. He wrote most of the lyrics for Busy Guy sitting in the British Library, taking the songs to pieces and reassembling them, refining the words, thinking about the stories.
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