NICK FRATER and BIG STIR RECORDS invite you to take a peek inside the windows of the Aerodrome Motel (under construction!) with a new single previewing a forthcoming and soon-to-be-announced album from the acclaimed Croydon, England-based singer-songwriter-multi-instrumentalist, due this August. The two-song single “Dancing With A Gertrude” is set for worldwide release July 15 and is up for pre-order now at bigstirrecords.bandcamp.com. It's not just a tease for the new record, it also continues Frater's tradition of serving up an exclusive B-side, with “Gertrude” backed by the non-album track “The Love Songs Of Simon Love”.

“Dancing With A Gertrude” gives a perfect portrait of where Frater is at musically and lyrically on the forthcoming album, featuring a string quartet, 12-string guitar, and a super-catchy chorus, overall described by its creator as “The Cure play 'Shiny Happy People'.” It's a piece of jangle-pop perfection about endangered baby-names. Like many of Frater’s songs, this was inspired by an unexpected conversation, as he explains. “While visiting a museum with a family member called Gary, a volunteer shrieked 'you’re extinct' when they discovered his name. It transpired they had just read a news article that no babies had been born with the name Gary that year. I’ve been keeping an eye on the baby naming statistics ever since…Gary is not doing well, and neither are the many other names mentioned in the song.”

Frater continues, “This is possibly one of my favourite songs on the new album, and I'm really pleased with how the lyrics turned out, especially the line 'Well have you met a Beau before or spelled Belle out in semaphore?’ A lot of fun to write this one!” Playfulness is always a part of Nick's creative process, and it's doubtless one of the reasons – beyond his prodigious talent – for the consistent critical accolades that greet each new record: last year's Earworms was 2021's Album of the Year at Powerpopaholic, 2020's Fast & Loose won Frater a five-star review in Britain's revered Shindig! Magazine, and 2019's Full Fathom Freight-Train earned the Album of The Year honor from International Pop Overthrow. That whimsy is in full bloom on the LP, and the exclusive B-side too.

As well as being a solo artist, Nick Frater appears all over the place as a session musician or producer. In spring 2022 Frater was booked for a session at Abbey Road which also featured Simon Love (www.simonlove.org). Afterwards Love shared a preview of a new song he had written…..which Nick Frater used as a springboard for a similar but different song. Our exclusive B-side “The Love Songs of Simon Love” became the equivalent of a play-within-a-play, and apropos to the light hearted approach to the tune, it contains some funny and risqué lines. A very down-to-Earth take on a love song; just like the songs of Simon Love.