Very welcome fourth album by the Scunthorpe guitarist-singer-songwriter after a 14-year-old absence with a life “song cycle of sorts,” sensitive, quiet and eloquent exploring fatherhood, grief and rebirth. Produced by longtime friend and Speedy Wunderground boss Dan Carey, it was initially recorded last July in Dean Street Studios, Soho, on a hot afternoon in just two hours, before Carey gently added some additional instruments and sounds. The title, prompted by Carey is explained, ironically by Fretwell: “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 didn’t do any music for years.”
Most of the lyrics were written sitting in the British Library, and London gives a sense of place here, with the Tube station related numbers Oval, and Embankment among the standouts, as well as the Cat Stevens tribute The Long Water. Among the many stories is the wintry lament opener, The Goshawk and the Gull, while much of the album is coloured, literally by colour-title songs Orange, Green, Pink, Copper and Almond. Dreamlike, they touch on many feelings and images - blood, milk and honey, peaches and more, amid love and heartbreak. Green takes us up into space to “moon craters” and “crazed constellations” to religion’s saints and angels, Pink’s horseflies twitch on the previous night’s wine glasses, while cold beers on the beach come as a peace offering and escape. Deliciously refined, crisp and gentle. Out on Speedy Wunderground.
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