...Stephen Fretwell
Wild rice: Is the world ready for another Damien Rice? It sure looks like it, if the reaction to UK singer-songwriter Stephen Fretwell is anything to go by. Like our scruffy friend from Celbridge, Fretwell sports a scraggly growth of facial hair, writes emotional tunes about being dumped by girls, and commands a huge following of devoted disciples. But Fretwell's songs are also peppered with filthy language and angry metaphors, not the kind of things you'd ever hear from the lips of Damo Nice. For the past couple of years, Fretwell has been Manchester's best-kept secret, but, with the release of his début album, Magpie, late last year, the cat is out of the bag, and the 23-year-old is set to become the new king of the cross-legged brigade.
One for sorrow: Originally from Scunthorpe, Fretwell wrote his first song at the tender age of 11, and it was probably about being dumped by a girl. Young Stephen was left unattended with a guitar for dangerously long periods of time. Given access to records by Bob Dylan and Joni Mitchell, and began to develop his own rough 'n' ready balladeer style. Finding Scunthorpe a hostile place for sensitive, guitar-strumming souls, and afraid of being branded a "poncy" singer-songwriter, Fretwell moved to Salford, a place more conducive to writing folksy, lovelorn ballads. Here, he found the perfect blend of grime and geniality, and besides, it was the hometown of his heroes The Smiths, so it just had to be a Mersey paradise.
Hair mettle: Fretwell's reputation around Manchester grew almost as quickly as his facial hair, and soon he was stuffing local venues on wet Wednesday evenings and supporting the likes of Keane and Elbow. Soon the music press were labelling him "the Reebok classic Nick Drake" and predicting David Gray-level success for the new strumming star. Far from writing him off as just another fey folkie, the critics lauded Fretwell's rough, edgy style and his stark, unflinching lyrics. With his band, he released an eight-song mini- album, cleverly entitled 8 songs, in 2002; he followed it up with the single Something's Got to Give and another mini-album, The Lines, in 2003. But it's Magpie, on Fiction Records, which should see Fretwell seriously steal hearts. Just to be sure, he's released a single off the album, Run, in time for Valentine's day.
Don't fret: Fretwell comes across as a bit of a sensitive soul, but he insists that he's not a simpering singer-songwriter. In person, he's more like a Gallagher brother - self-assured, slightly arrogant and liberal with the swear words. On the other hand, he still feels the twinge of a broken heart, and once gave a tearful magazine interview in which he begged his girl- friend to come back to him. Stephen will play the Ruby Sessions at Doyle's Pub in Dublin on March 8th. Bring your girlfriend - if she hasn't yet dumped you.
