Blog Post: Review - Fred Again… releases ‘Actual Life 3’
Following the release of hugely successful albums Actual Life and Actual Life 2, Fred Again.. completes the triad with the release of Actual Life 3. Within his newest collection of songs, Fred Again.. continues to strengthen his craft of cyber-induced electronic dance music.
Within the music of Fred Again.. he incorporates sounds from various sources including voice messages he has received or other people’s content on social media. In doing this, he creates a really nuanced vision of contemporary music - one that involves a sort of cyber-scape as a means of constructing a highly resonant melody. This is a highly unique way of approaching music production, as it recognises the growing significance of technology and digital media within contemporary existence. The mediation between digital media and music is so entwined with the sound Fred Again.., and this album is no different.
The merging of cyber-scape and melody is reinforced throughout Actual Life 3, resulting in an album that flows in great synchrony. This aspect makes this album so enjoyable to listen to as it successfully maintains this flow throughout, making it feel highly curated. Such a flow is even preserved within the song titles, where all of the titles feature a single phrase accompanied by a short sentence in brackets. This is yet another unique and idiosyncratic feature of the music Fred Again.. composes. Each song he fabricates coalesces together perfectly and it seems as though each song is a microcosm of his overall conceptual body of work. The discography of Fred Again.. reflect similar concepts and themes, but each song offers something highly unique for its listeners.
Undoubtedly, each song on this album offers listeners with an insight into the tremendous talent of Fred Again.. as an artist. This album illuminates the abundance of talent he possesses and his unyielding ability to construct music that is so resonant with the youth generation. Actual Life 3 encapsulates what it means to exist as a young person within our modern world, meditating on themes of social media to connection in a post-Covid world. Fred Again.. achieves this through his ability as an artist to fuse digital soundscapes with meaningful lyrics and memorable melodies. In particular, songs such as ‘Danielle (smile on my face)’ and ‘Delilah (pull me out of this)’ reflect this talent.
Overall, Actual Life 3 is possibly Fred Again..’s most accomplished album yet. It undoubtedly solidifies Fred Again.. as a purveyor of idiosyncratic and distinctive sounds, sounds of which are invoking a new phase of electronic dance music. The distinctive nature which underpins his music makes this album both highly memorable and equally as enjoyable to listen to.