California Waits (Big Stir Digital Single No. 99)
Nick Frater
NICK FRATER's new album FAST & LOOSE has been widely hailed as a stack of perfect pop singles waiting to happen, so... how to choose the much-needed second one? LA-based Big Stir Records (and listeners worldwide have gravitated towards “California Waits”, and the wait is over: the single and its exclusive non-album B-side “The Afterparty” are
NICK FRATER's new album FAST & LOOSE has been widely hailed as a stack of perfect pop singles waiting to happen, so... how to choose the much-needed second one? LA-based Big Stir Records (and listeners worldwide have gravitated towards “California Waits”, and the wait is over: the single and its exclusive non-album B-side “The Afterparty” are out Thursday, October 15 and up for preorder at www.bigstirrecords.com/big-stir-digital-singles right now!
Bursting out of the gate with a guitar and keyboard riff that locates us firmly in the classic sunny '70s radio rock idiom at which Frater excels, “California Waits” has everything a pop fan could hope for: a short and sharply-observed character study with an instant singalong chorus – “Daddy didn't teach you to drive” is worthy of Cheap Trick at full hook-propelled power – and a bridge that drops the title right on the listener and keeps barreling forward. If you need a quirky twist or two, some surprisingly lovely accordion passages and the most melodic deployment of the word “palindrome” in rock history should broaden the smile that's already on your face. That's Tom Shotton nailing the vibe on the drums... everything else is Nick!
The never-before-heard B-side “The Afterparty” is an aching ballad that sounds exactly like what the title implies, a humo(u)rously sombre postscript to the boisterousness of the A-side. “The afterparty's over, streetlights take me home”, Frater sings over a bed of keyboards and guitars that seem to guide the way to some perhaps-much-needed contemplative isolation. “Everyone just needs a little time to slow back down” indeed. It's beautiful, and we're delighted to release it as the perfect epilogue to a record called FAST & LOOSE, the sessions for which yielded the recording.
FAST & LOOSE was loosed upon the world last month and is available on CD and download now at www.bigstirrecords.com/store and everywhere music is sold or streamed. As for the ever-restless Mr. Frater himself... he's already hard at work on a new record and a host of other fascinating projects that are sure to be of interest. Watch this space as California, and the global pop scene, waits for details!