{"id":22243,"date":"2022-01-04T05:30:22","date_gmt":"2022-01-04T10:30:22","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/?p=22243"},"modified":"2022-01-05T15:46:07","modified_gmt":"2022-01-05T20:46:07","slug":"album-review-nick-frater-earworms","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/2022\/01\/04\/album-review-nick-frater-earworms\/","title":{"rendered":"Album Review: Nick Frater &#8212; Earworms"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignright size-full wp-image-22244\" src=\"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/nick_frater_earworms.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"350\" height=\"350\" srcset=\"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/nick_frater_earworms.jpg 350w, http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/nick_frater_earworms-300x300.jpg 300w, http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/nick_frater_earworms-150x150.jpg 150w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 350px) 100vw, 350px\" \/>There\u2019s an ineffable character that connects bands like Cheap Trick, Material Issue, The Raspberries, Matthew Sweet, Ben Folds and a select few others. Their various approaches to music may not share a plethora of specific, identifiable characteristics, but there\u2019s something irresistible about their best work. It\u2019s uplifting and breathtaking, and the act of listening to it quickens one\u2019s pulse. The music is consistently accessible, relatable, and it isn\u2019t dumbed-down.<\/p>\n<p>You may or may not be familiar with the name Nick Frater. He\u2019s not (yet) as well known as the aforementioned artists. But his work deserves to be mentioned in the same breath as theirs. He demonstrates a deep understanding of songcraft and musicianship. He knows the value of a good hook, a soaring chorus and a memorable lyric. And he applies his accumulated\/earned knowledge to the appropriately-titled <i>Earworms<\/i>, a collection of songs destined to live in your head.<\/p>\n<p>His chord progressions suggest that he\u2019s spent a bit of time listening to Jeff Lynne, to The Beach Boys, to Badfinger, Owsley and Pilot. He never mimics any of those artists (nor any others, for that matter), but his songs have the same kind of positive, lasting effect as theirs. The songs blow by quickly, never overstaying their welcome. Frater digs right into the melody, doing most of the heavy lifting himself, aided by select collaborators\/helpers here and there (including Jellyfish\u2019s Roger Joseph Manning \u2013 a kindred spirit he \u2013 on one).<\/p>\n<p><i>Earworms<\/i> has but ten tracks. But here\u2019s the thing: it doesn\u2019t need more. Tunes like \u201cWhat\u2019s With Your Heavy Heart?\u201d are so good that the quality negates the need for more. Most albums have at least a track or two that feel less than essential, a bit like filler. You won\u2019t find any of those on <i>Earworms<\/i>. Most enthusiastically recommended, spending time with Nick Frater\u2019s latest is a great way to usher in the new year. (I\u2019ve reviewed at least four of his previous releases; they\u2019re nearly as wonderful as this.)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>There\u2019s an ineffable character that connects bands like Cheap Trick, Material Issue, The Raspberries, Matthew Sweet, Ben Folds and a select few others. Their various approaches to music may not [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":22244,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[49,51,62,65],"tags":[3631],"class_list":["post-22243","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-new-release","category-pop","category-rawk","category-review","tag-nick-frater","cat-49-id","cat-51-id","cat-62-id","cat-65-id","has_thumb"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22243","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=22243"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22243\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":22255,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22243\/revisions\/22255"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/22244"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=22243"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=22243"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=22243"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}