Stephen Fretwell is set to release his new album Man On The Roof on September 10th. Recorded in New York with producer Eli Janney, these 14 songs are the follow-up to Fretwell’s Gold-selling debut of 2004, Magpie. The album is preceded by a single on 3rd September - the up-beat and optimistic Scar.Stephen Fretwell, was born in Scunthorpe in 1981, a fact that belies the maturity and worldliness of his song-writing. These days, he's mostly resident in Manchester, but he liked New York so much he decided to make his second album there. Man On The Roof, will surprise people. It's not as melancholy as Magpie, but it is just as beguiling. This means the lugubrious sway of Coney; the romantic The Ground Beneath Your Feet, "about redemption, about being saved by a woman"; while Funny Hat and William Shatner's Dog are both about the same person.
Sleep and Coney concern adultery in body and mind respectively, while the couples in Bumper Cars and Darlin' Don't struggle to get past whatever first base is, but as Fretwell himself says, "it's pretty coded"...
While finishing the album earlier this year, Fretwell found time to play a handful of sold-out solo acoustic shows in February followed by a further series of shows in May which featured contributions by Jonny Lexus and Eli Janney, and released Four Letter Words – a limited edition 5 or 4 song EP (10” and CD formats respectively) of tracks taken from the album recording sessions.
Stephen is playing a one-off show at Soho Revue Bar, London on 26 July.
He is also confirmed for the following festivals: 14th July Guildford, Guilfest (early afternoon acoustic set) 14th July Bristol, Ashton Court Festival (stage time 9pm) 2nd Aug Stockton, Stockton Riverside Festival (Free entry) 17th Aug Edinburgh, T on The Fringe - Liquid Rooms 18th Aug Stafford, V Festival 19th Aug, Chelmsford, V Festival
More live dates are being planned and will be announced soon.
The album Man On The Roof is released 10 September.