Stephen Fretwell - 'Magpie' (Fiction)
4/5
By: Matt Tomiak
Scunthorpe. Not famous for a great deal, discounting those juvenile innuendos concerning the profanity contained within its name and the fact that Kevin Keegan began his professional career at the town's football club. To that admittedly slight inventory may now be added Stephen Fretwell. Undeniably raw yet unusually intimate, 'Magpie' sees the youngster transcend the habitual influences and create something individual, poignant and highly capable.
From the stark, elegiac opening track 'Do You Want To Come With Me' - spawning something close in atmosphere and knowing, jaded acumen to a cut from Bruce Springsteen's 'The Ghost of Tom Joad' - it's patently clear that Stephen Fretwell's debut album is a hearty cut above your standard earnest young singer/songwriter fare. 'What's That You Say Little Girl' brings to mind the venomous acrimony of Bob Dylan on 'Like a Rolling Stone' or 'Positively 4th Street'. Fretwell quietly yet bitterly chastises his subject over a failed relationship and wasted years: 'Don't be so stupid, little girl/you're never gonna change this world... you, you f***ed up.'
Fretwell's undisguised North Lincolnshire accent recalls Badly Drawn Boy's blatant Manc tones, but if you're looking for further contemporary reference points check the Ryan Adams-ish, vulnerable twilight croon of 'Lost Without You' or the Ed Harcourtian flourish of forthcoming single 'Run' (not a Snow Patrol cover, since you ask) and the Coldplay-esque stateliness of 'Lines'. Yep, Scunthorpe - at last - has much to be proud of.
Artists in this article: Stephen Fretwell
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