Fredrik Norlindh paid us a visit last March with another single from his album, ‘Contrasting Notes’, which is released on 16th October.
We soon gleaned that he knows how to develop tension in a song as someone who wrote a postgraduate thesis about The Phantom of the Opera might expect to.
Also that he’s a dab hand with synthesisers and that he knows how to tell a story as he did with ‘Can’t You See Me’, which chronicled his failure to attend a crucial business meeting as catastrophe followed catastrophe like they used to in the old ‘Carry On’ films.
This time out we take ‘Lipstick On’ as the lead track from ‘Contrasting Notes’, an 11-track album which showcases Fredrik’s melodies, dramatic orchestration, and genre-defying soundscapes to the full.
His influences embrace a wide range of artists and styles including Muse, Depeche Mode, Coldplay, ABBA, Queen, Lady Gaga, and Andrew Lloyd Webber so quite apart from anticipating hearing at least one of more of them (and you will, from the Phantom-like opening chord to chanted Coldplay choruses with a Gaga-esque twist and Mercury-like vocal power), you can expect a very big production.
So big in fact that the last 20 seconds or so sound like the finale of a West End or Broadway blockbuster musical. It is one of those songs – another is Weyes Blood’s ‘Movies’ – where you wish either that you were there in the front row or that there was at the very least a live performance official video to go with it and I hope that he might be able to provide one before too long.
I can’t figure out precisely what it’s about. My guess would be that of a reluctant comer-outer or trans person despite having experienced a defining ‘777’ moment but then the song is too upbeat for that.
Whatever the subject matter it is a piece to be admired and one that is literally all his own work as writer, producer and, I suspect, the musician on many of the instruments as he plays quite a few. And AI doesn’t get a look in.
(Continues after the Spotify link)
‘Contrasting Notes’ is built on the idea that music should never be one-dimensional, moving between indie rock, electronic pop, and symphonic arrangements.
Find him on:
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/FredrikNorlindhArtist Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/fredriknorlindh/
