JAMES FREDHOLM – Love Is The Answer (Honeybee Records GmbH)

Love Is The AnswerJames Fredholm releases the singles ‘Oars’ on October 27th. It is taken from his album Love Is The Answer. The album includes not only this single but also Uncaged, a book of Fredholm’s poetry.

Fredholm grew up in Austin, Texas in the 70’s, played in local bands, recorded jingles for local businesses but then went to university and followed a successful business career. He remained interested in the arts, writing songs and poems and painting – and wondering about the road he hadn’t taken. He founded Honeybee Records in 2013 and his focus and lifestyle are now on the artistic life, describing himself as a poet first and then a musician.

And you feel this in the album. Love Is The Answer is intimate and open, acoustic-guitar-gentle. It is Lyric Poetry set to a musical accompaniment which has echoes of late 60’s and 70’s American acoustic music. I find that if I listen to the album in the car, I enjoy the melody and the style. It suits the enclosed cabin of the car in the same way that it would suit the air-conditioned chill out room in a night club. But if I listen at home, I’m much more drawn in by the words and the lines are too short, the rhymes chasing in on one another and pulling attention away from the melody. “I’m not blind/And I don’t mind/ What you do/I’ve got time/To find the answers/With you” – ‘Me And You’; “Innocent child/It was sweet for a while/And I don’t/ Want to part/From her smile/I want to please her” – ‘Anastasia’

If this is your style, both the lyrics and the poetry are available on Fredholm’s website and you can see him on a short tour at the moment until October 25th, concluding with a gig at The Packhorse in Leeds.

Mike Wistow

Artist’s website: https://jamesfredholm.com

The single ‘Oars’ – official video:


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