BIG STIR RECORDS is proud to announce a new digital single from NICK FRATER, streaming world-wide April 22 and up for pre-order at bigstirrecords.bandcamp.com now. “Buggin' Out” pairs the second focus track from Nick's hit album EARWORMS with the non-album exclusive B-side “How About It Girl (Sara Pt 2)”... the first, but far from the last, new track from the Croydon, England-based singer-songwriter-multi-instrumentalist-producer for 2022.

Nick Frater’s acclaimed Earworms album is both audaciously and aptly named: every track could be a single, and “Buggin’ Out” -- a slice of '60s influenced power pop about growing old disgracefully – is no exception. It's a burst of pure jangly power-pop featuring Darian Sahanaja (of Brian Wilson's Band and The Wondermints) on harmonies, with chiming 12 string guitars laid over a sophisticated Steely Dan inspired chord structure. “The song is about recognising your short comings and bad habits, yet continuing them and forever planning the big escape,” say Frater. “As a Brit, I love hearing some of the turns of phrase that Americans use. The words familiar but often a totally different approach to language. One of phrase I picked up on recently was ‘Bugging Out’ which seemed to capture what - as a foreigner - I think is the real American dream. The idea of freedom, of taking of, heading west, starting over. It might be forever, it might just be for the weekend.”

The exclusive b-side “How About It Girl (Sara Pt 2)” is inspired by the ‘kitchen sink’ dramas of the 1960s, both in narrative and in the song’s arrangement. “It is a tale about Sara, stuck in a dead-end job, who spends her time pretending the conversations she has with the public are more romantic than the ones she’s really having,” Frater told us. “I’ve been exploring narrative-based songs recently, inspired by the many great '60s songwriters who brought little vignettes to life. This tale is fictional, but the Sara character is based on a real person. Pt 1 of Sara’s story was a single I put out a few years ago called 'Sara' - it was a true story about a girl at work who left her fiancé to pursue a workplace love affair... unfortunately that love affair hadn’t started, and the other person had no idea that was on the cards!”

As typical on a Frater production, Nick himself handles most of the vocal and instrumental duties, with Joe Montague on the drums. In addition to Sahanaja's harmonies on the A-side, Jamie Whelligan of the beloved English indie acts Whelligan and Annexe The Moon provides backing vocals on “How About It Girl”. Big Stir could continue issuing singles from Earworms indefinitely – the album was Power Popaholic's pick for Album of the Year in 2021 along with a slew of other Top 10 honors from critics worldwide – but Our Man In Croydon never rests, and we are delighted to report that a new full-length NICK FRATER album is mere months away from being announced. Stand by, and keep “Buggin' Out” in the meantime!