Rough Trade say:

BRIT Award-winning producer is plotting out a path as one of the UK’s most exciting acts. Actual Life (April 14 - December 17 2020) features all of the music Fred has made between April and December 2020. Actual Life offers a glimpse into how Fred sees – or rather, how he hears – the world, and the people who bring it to life around him. He doesn’t write about experiences; he takes experiences and turns them into songs. This will be Fred’s first ever physical release of his debut album, on a 12” vinyl.

Over the past five years, he’s brought this inescapable charisma to his work with everyone from FKA twigs to Stefflon Don, BTS, Jayda G, Romy and Burna Boy. It helped draw UK drill rapper Headie One out of his comfort zone, on the pair’s collaborative mixtape GANG, to dazzling effect. He’s also, to state it more plainly, wildly successful: in 2019 he spent 15 weeks (just shy of 30%) of the year at number one in the charts.

Soon, however, his own spontaneous, spooling solo project, Actual Life, would take on a heavier, deeply personal significance. Fred had been collating sounds and making songs for a while, with no real aim or end goal other than making music and experimenting with this new way of working. Mostly, he was pouring everyday joy and love into these songs. But the spiralling illness of a close friend gave his project a new focus. And, with huge and unexpected tragedy, gave the project an end date too. Loss and pain are a part of life, so they became a part of Actual Life too.