![\"\"](\"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/nick_frater_aerodrome.jpg\")
Nick Frater is a remarkably prolific artist; in recent months and years he seems to be cranking out new music at a furious pace. And his quality control program is well in place; he clearly holds his work to a high standard, and potential listeners are all but guaranteed that each new release will be worth their time.<\/p>\n
With that in mind, there\u2019s not a great deal for me to say beyond letting readers know that Aerodrome Motel<\/em>, Frater\u2019s latest, does nothing to change my opinion of Frater and his work. Even while managing a busy schedule that includes playing in Love Revisited\u2019s touring lineup, he\u2019s crafted another lovely collection of winning pop-rock tunes. Frater\u2019s gift for melody, his ability to seamlessly place sharp hooks into fetching tunes, and his skill at arranging are all showcased on Aerodrome Motel.<\/p>\n The album\u2019s credits list is long and varied, but it should be noted that Frater is at the core and foundation of every cut, singing lead, playing (guitars, bass, keys, percussion etc.) as well as engineering, mixing and producing the entire affair. And after all that, it sounds like a band, not a guy with a home studio and loads of MIDI.<\/p>\n The opening cut, \u201cThe Pleasure is Mine\u201d is pure Frater, but keen listeners might detect hints of anything from Jellyfish to Pilot to Supertramp in the song. He rocks things up on tunes like \u201cLove Heist,\u201d but those indelible pop values are always the main ingredient. Subtlety is the defining chracteristic of the gentle title track, one reminiscent of Emitt Rhodes. \u201cNo Hard Feelings\u201d is a dreamy, melancholy number filled with emotion.<\/p>\n True to its title, \u201cRough & Tumble\u201d has a hard-charging brass arrangement wedded to a solid melody. Think of it as a pop-leaning cousin to The Saints\u2019 classic \u201cKnow Your Product.\u201d The mid-sixties Beatles styled insistent piano vibe \u2013 you know the one \u2013 shows up on \u201cDear Modern Times,\u201d with bits of Mellotron for extra points. \u201cAmerican Expressways\u201d feels a bit like 10cc, and that\u2019s never a bad thing. The disc concludes with \u201cWhite Courtesy Telephone,\u201d combining atmospheric Britpopsike with some Pet Sounds<\/i> and SMiLE<\/i> sonic textures (and even a bit of pedal steel).<\/p>\n Inevitably, this album is shortlisted for consideration for my annual best-of; check back in late December if such things matter to you. If you\u2019re already hip to Nick Frater\u2019s musical world, go get Aerodrome Motel<\/i>. If you don\u2019t know his work, his latest release is a perfect entry point to discovers the wonders therein.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Nick Frater is a remarkably prolific artist; in recent months and years he seems to be cranking out new music at a furious pace. And his quality control program is […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":23517,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[49,51,62,65],"tags":[4161,3631],"class_list":["post-23516","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-new-release","category-pop","category-rawk","category-review","tag-big-stir-records","tag-nick-frater","cat-49-id","cat-51-id","cat-62-id","cat-65-id","has_thumb"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23516","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=23516"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23516\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":23519,"href":"https:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23516\/revisions\/23519"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/23517"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=23516"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=23516"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=23516"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}