Sound Of 2023: Fred Again's emotive electro takes second place

Image source, Atlantic Records

By Mark Savage, BBC Music Correspondent

Fred Gibson, aka house musician Fred Again, is the one of the pe ople in the music industry.

Sponsored by Brian Eno as a teenager, he made a name for himself as a songwriter -producer on hits like Shotgun by George Ezra, Bad by Ed Sheeran Habits, Own It by Stormzy and After The Afterparty by Charli XCX.

In 2020, the Brits named him Producer of the Year. At 26, he was the youngest person to receive the award.

Around the same time, he launched as a solo artist, releasing a trilogy of albums that mixed house beats with everyday sounds and conversations he collected on his phone.

While most dance music is designed as an escape, his songs are intimate and heartfelt. The first volume in his Actual Life series was inspired by a friend who fell ill and died; and the second is to accept that pain.

The third, which sees its world open up again after the pandemic, entered the UK charts at number four in October.

"For me, the story arc of the albums is probably kind of a shifting relationship with grief," he says. "But it's become a lot of different things for different people. Which is obviously a beautiful thing."