BIG STIR RECORDS and NICK FRATER invite you to check in to AERODROME MOTEL, the new album from the acclaimed Croydon, England-based singer, songwriter, multi-instrumentalist and producer. The record, featuring the lead single/focus track “Dancing With A Gertrude”, sees release August 19 on record store shelves (as a CD) and streaming platforms

BIG STIR RECORDS and NICK FRATER invite you to check in to AERODROME MOTEL, the new album from the acclaimed Croydon, England-based singer, songwriter, multi-instrumentalist and producer. The record, featuring the lead single/focus track “Dancing With A Gertrude”, sees release August 19 on record store shelves (as a CD) and streaming platforms worldwide, and is available for pre-order at www.bigstirrecords.com and other online outlets now. Frater's tenth album overall and his third with Big Stir, AERODROME MOTEL builds on the success of last year's acclaimed Earworms and marks yet another stride forward for the ever-creatively-restless, always-impeccably-tuneful Renaissance man.

Nick Frater stands out on a modern pop landscape populated by innumerable prolific self-professed polymaths by virtue of not having to profess anything about himself at all. The critics and tastemakers of the indie-pop world are more than happy to do it for him: Earworms was 2021's Album of the Year at Powerpopaholic. The previous year's Fast & Loose won Frater a five-star review, and a citation as a “pop tunesmith par excellence,” in Britain's revered Shindig! Magazine. And 2019's Full Fathom Freight-Train earned the Album of The Year honor from International Pop Overthrow, with all three adorning countless other Year's Best lists worldwide: Earworms alone ranked in the Top 20 with pop scene influencers in the US, UK, Canada, Italy, Sweden and Argentina.

That acknowledged consistency of sheer quality is why a new Nick Frater album is always something special, but each record is also unique... he simply doesn't repeat himself. Frater’s songwriting has drawn frequent comparisons to Bacharach, and Aerodrome Motel sees him  continuing his quest for new catchy hooks and melodies. But he's also chosen to take a few risks on this album and explore some broader subject matter too. We’re treated the usual rock song territory of love and loss, but also endangered baby names (on the undeniably catchy single “Dancing With A Gertrude”), wave machines (on the title track with its mutual echoes of Elliot Smith and the Fab Four) and even the graffiti from a toilet door set to music (the horn-driven, Elton John-inflected “Rough & Tumble”)!

Frater tells us: “The last few albums have felt like some big steps forward for my songwriting. More and more I’ve enjoyed writing purely from the voice. Frequently you’ll find me being that person singing at the bus stop or while walking around the supermarket, recording ideas in to my phone. I get a few funny looks, but I’m convinced this technique is helping capture some catchy tunes. Having started songwriting by trying to find surprising and complicated chords – and I still love those songs! – I also love the idea that a pop song could translate to a Salvation Army band, or panpipe trio, or 8bit chip tune. Could this song survive being played by kids with a recorder? I never ever want to hear the answer to that question, but I find it helps focus my melody writing!”

By the time those supermarket melodies have been refined, paired with dollops of a trademark lyrical wit, immaculately produced and performed by Nick and a sterling guest cast, they've become irresistible earworms that anyone might catch themselves humming in public. Frater lives in a land of 60s/70s sophisticated-pop, a self-confessed obsession with vintage recording techniques, and a ‘more is more’ approach to production. AERODROME MOTEL, named for the long-abandoned London airport near Frater's home, hits the tarmac in exactly that mode, with “The Pleasure Is Mine” bringing to mind Steely Dan. It then dives into a pair of rockers – “Love Heist” and “Stuck In My Ways” – sporting the kinds of radio-perfect choruses and soaring harmonies that have made Frater so beloved among power pop aficionados worldwide.

Those hooks are all over the record, of course – it is a Nick Frater album, after all! – but there's texture aplenty, and wry observations and introspection alike informing the lyrics. “Dear Modern Times” is a scathing look at the death of nuance in today's social discourse, in a musical setting Frater calls “The Zombies meet Billy Joel.” Elsewhere, “American Expressways” brings Brian Wilson-style studio savvy to an examination of the befuddled ambivalence of a soldier returning from the front. There's also the character-study ballad “No Hard Feelings,” which brings together haunting mellotron strings, a Twin Peaks baritone guitar, backwards tape, and harmonium against sparse drums, creating an almost cinematic scale to the song balanced against an intimate and heartfelt vocal.

The album closes with another character study, “White Courtesy Phone,” a blissed-out psychedelic country-waltz with haunting pedal steel and French horn framing a portrait of a traveler who never seems to arrive anywhere. It hearkens back to the title track, inspired by the artwork of the 1960s motel matchboxes gorgeously echoed on the album artwork by frequent collaborator Adam Mallett. And that's the framework of the record's traveling themes, with Frater bringing his love of West Coast American mythology and his very British sensibilities together... with side trips exploring adult male mental health, finding oneself gagged and bound in the back of a getaway car, and just plain rude-sounding but intoxicating glam rock stomp.

AERODROME MOTEL is far more than a simple layover or road stop on Nick Frater's ever-ascending career path, and it's thrilling to hear his melodic and lyrical inventions continue to take flight. Open yourself to Nick's way of blending wit and melody and you'll likely laugh, cry, and pause to see the world around you in a new light... often in the space of the same song. Check in on August 19 and stay as long as you like... just leave the wave machine where you found it, for the next guests.

Big Stir Records is proud to announce the upcoming release of EARWORMS, an all-new album from Croydon, England-based singer, songwriter, producer and all-around musical renaissance man NICK FRATER. The record, featuring the first single “It's All Rumours,” is out on vinyl LP, CD, and streaming on all digital platforms November 19 and is up for

Big Stir Records is proud to announce the upcoming release of EARWORMS, an all-new album from Croydon, England-based singer, songwriter, producer and all-around musical renaissance man NICK FRATER. The record, featuring the first single “It's All Rumours,” is out on vinyl LP, CD, and streaming on all digital platforms November 19 and is up for pre-order at www.bigstirrecords.com and everywhere now. It's ten new tracks from Nick and an all-star supporting cast, each one delivering on the title's promise of unshakable melodies and Frater's reputation as one of the most reliably delightful tunesmiths on the global pop rock scene.

To be sure, titling the record Earworms is an audacious move even for an artist coming off a rapid-fire pair of widely celebrated albums: 2020's BSR release Fast & Loose (recipient of a five star review in Shindig! Magazine) and Full Fathom Freight Train which raked in Year's Best nods including International Pop Overthrow's Album of the Year honor in 2019. But it's not hyperbole: those high standards notwithstanding, the hooks on the new album have extraordinary sticking power, taken into timeless territory by Frater's astute choice of musical settings.

“I wanted to make an album that sounds and feels like a lost treasure from the mid '70s melodic rock scene,” says Nick. “I’ll leave it to your ears to decide, but I think we got pretty close!” Having deliberately chosen a sonic palette from that era and then combining the vibe with his songwriting chops and lyrical wit, Frater has made a record that could have been found in the racks alongside Breakfast in America, In Colour or The Stranger. You can hear it in the infectiously crunchy drive of the single, the AM-ready electric piano balladry of “Star-Crossed,” and the sweet jangle-meets-doo-wop confection called “Buggin' Out”... and in the sunny harmonies that adorn Frater's dry English wit across the entire record.

Recording at home in Croydon and prevented by lockdowns from calling on his regular band and studios, Frater has instead pulled together an impressive coterie of home recordists spread across the UK and USA from his impressive Rolodex of collaborators. And what a virtual band they add up to, featuring a who’s who of guest musicians including Roger Joseph Manning Jr. (Jellyfish/Beck), Darian Sahanaja (Wondermints/Brian Wilson), Mike Randle (Love/Baby Lemonade), Dana Countryman, and many more from the Big Stir family and beyond.

While the musical muscle helps Frater nail the radio-ready vibe, it's his vocal delivery and gift with a turn of phrase that makes Earworms a record for the modern era. The title of the heavy-6/8 outing “Who Says I Need A Plan At All?” alone speaks to the clever wordplay to be expected here. There's also the Steely Dan-tinged “Desert Ships”, based around myths and legends of the Californian deserts from stories of Viking longboats being found stranded miles inland by pioneers, to Gram Parson’s body being stolen and driven out to Joshua Tree. Elsewhere, witheringly comedic takedowns of both Ayn Rand and religious fundamentalism dot the melodic but blistering “Not Born Again” (with Nick Bertling pounding the drums). And who but Frater would wrap a breezy shuffle like “Lucky Strike” around the lyrical hook “I wish I knew what you’re thinking, it’d save me from asking and pissing you off”?

They say you should never judge a book by its cover, but it bears mention that the cover artwork here is wonderful, shown off to best effect on the LP edition. The intricate sleeve design by Adam Mallett is a collage of images from Frater’s life and music, woven into a hand drawn giant ear, evoking some of the vibe of the Revolver cover but hinting at the psychedelic and magpie-like sonics on the record. The pitch-perfect aesthetic spills over into the music video for “It's All Rumours,” which is rife with visual in-jokes every bit as clever as Frater's lyrics for the record.

It all adds up to a stack of tracks that's simultaneously one of the most instantly accessible and soulfully quirky collections Big Stir has ever been honored to offer. The album is destined to amass at least as many accolades as its predecessors, but more importantly, it'll keep listeners compulsively humming its tunes tunes for days on end just as its title promises... and thanking Nick Frater for the Earworms.

BIG STIR RECORDS is thrilled to announce the September 19 release of FAST & LOOSE, the new album from Croydon, England-based musical Renaissance man NICK FRATER! The new record (his fifth “proper” album) will be issued worldwide on CD and digital formats, and is available for pre-0rder at www.bigstirrecords.com/store now. Apropos to its title,

BIG STIR RECORDS is thrilled to announce the September 19 release of FAST & LOOSE, the new album from Croydon, England-based musical Renaissance man NICK FRATER! The new record (his fifth “proper” album) will be issued worldwide on CD and digital formats, and is available for pre-0rder at www.bigstirrecords.com/store now. Apropos to its title, it's a full throttle collection brimming with the hooks, harmonies and sophisticated arrangements his fans have come to expect, and bubbling with a freshness and energy that'll captivate new listeners immediately as one of the UK's best-kept secrets steps onto a wider international stage.

The follow up to 2019’s critically acclaimed Full Fathom Freight-Train, Nick Frater’s latest album Fast & Loose was written and recorded in a burst of creativity in the weeks leading up to and following becoming a dad. “It might sound unexpected, but spending many hours each day rocking and singing to a baby is actually a great way to write songs!” says Frater. The result is a collection of 11 hook-filled power-pop songs. Fans of Jellyfish, Cheap Trick, and The Beach Boys will find much to love here, but it's Frater's own personality and mastery of melody and arrangement that'll hook them for good.

The new record leaves the gate with the title track, a rollicking retro-flavored instrumental showcasing Frater's period-perfect mastery of '60s and '70s sounds, and then barrels straight into a pair of rockers that set the tone. Lead single “Let's Hear It For Love” shows off Frater's love of Todd Rundgren to great effect, and “Luna” keeps the energy up with a delirious stew of organ, guitar and harmonies over a stomping beat. Both would be perfectly at home atop the radio charts half a century ago but also bear the distinctive stamp of Frater's best work. From there it's into the lovely Pet Sounds-inflected “That Ship Has Sailed” and the pitch-perfect ballad “Moonstruck”, both showcasing an attention to production and arrangement detail that does nothing to dull their immediacy.

And things kick back up to an appropriately jittery level of energy with “Cocaine Gurls” (with its also-appropriate namedrops of Steely Dan, Talking Heads and Stevie Nicks) and “So Now We're Here”, evoking the garage-leaning sides of The Zombies or The Cyrkle with its fierce keyboards and rich harmonies. “California Waits” pairs a giddy textbook power pop vibe with the surprise of an insistent accordion (oh, it works!) but it's the next tune, “Would You Like To Go?” that nails the LA sound, seemingly rolling all eras of The Beach Boys into one rocking instant classic. The stately, lushly-orchestrated 6/8 yearning of “Buy You Time” brings FAST & LOOSE to an impassioned crescendo and the lovely “Endless Summertime Blues” serves as its tender conclusion.

Recorded very ‘fast & loose’ in Frater’s home studio, FAST & LOOSE features guest appearances from many of his friends in the pop rock scene including Spygenius, The Stan Laurels, Whelligan, Emperor Penguin, Super 8, Do Me Bad Things and a blistering solo from ex-Tokyo Dragons guitarist Steve Lowe. The guest roster will come as no surprise to followers of Nick's reciprocal work as a producer, live sideman (including recent UK gigs with the current edition of Love) and the impresario behind his own Great Sheiks Music imprint... he's the kind of team player we love here at BSR, our Nick!

Unknown to Frater at the time, the striking cover image was taken at a photoshoot where everyone was exposed to Covid 19 and had to self-isolate; a few days later the U.K. locked down completely. “There’s probably a metaphor to be found in wrapping your head in cling film and play-doh on the last day of the old world” says Frater, “but God only knows what it might be!” We can say that having Nick in the crazy world that followed has made it better: he would go on to complete and release the unique and fascinating 59 Vignettes project, a pandemic-era daily collection of just what the title implies in the form of one-minute mini-compositions that enlightened those early quarantine days, before putting the finishing touches on FAST & LOOSE. And naturally... he's already working ahead toward another collection for 2021. We're all in for all of it, and we're certain you will be, too.

For more on NICK FRATER, see:

www.nickfrater.com www.bigstirrecords.com/nick-frater