# New Album From NICK FRATER “Aerodrome Motel” Out August 19 on Big Stir Records

- Link: https://www.nyrdcast.com/new-album-from-nick-frater-aerodrome-motel-out-august-19-on-big-stir-records/
- Published: 2022-07-20T11:00:00-05:00
- Author: Eugene Tierney

**New album from Nick Frater (UK): “Aerodrome Motel” out August 19 on Big Stir Records**

**BIG STIR RECORDS** and **NICK FRATER** invite you to check in to **_AERODROME 
MOTEL_**, the new album from the acclaimed Croydon, England-based singer, songwriter,
multi-instrumentalist and producer. The record, featuring the lead single/focus 
track “Dancing With A Gertrude”, sees release August 19 on record store shelves (
as a CD) and streaming platforms worldwide, and is available for pre-order at [www.bigstirrecords.com](https://ddec1-0-en-ctp.trendmicro.com/wis/clicktime/v1/query?url=https%3a%2f%2fu648841.ct.sendgrid.net%2fls%2fclick%3fupn%3dn4%2d2BFS6ihWTIbrglZSRCLUdCctLWe5GlloZggC2%2d2BJ3RUSvA8tQaSR%2d2F5TXkFrh995kNMFz20MaAsbUAy6tbrphqy68JlI9RPRD36t19MZc1bxiy9lSCZH8ngelkrdzNuWDkQpXlim2n6DpVs3i%2d2FlBC95CPHNJHdoPmdbdRFYNk%2d2B%2d2Bg%2d3Dhbaj%5fgjUN5q0oY%2d2Fa9pVSh%2d2F3ttEV36g8zdE%2d2BC7uOgdgzyXpkp1UsIlWUxX6pNV4tKRzAaqyAnrJf%2d2F4xdeYLQuUFzCZLQ9i%2d2BSuF6sW%2d2BeB7Tr%2d2BjSLRHIzTUe1AaYW53AaXLiO7ZUxDMaToV29Xf%2d2F1WXitAKEb6XIJUve65d1EMkAw5YMgpzBHUlhIE1Q5QVUvh6CGeaach24q%2d2BcMOwuvrjPk8xL8I8FKvhEa6ISlRlv6mqmpzM9RWuBhSbfsdEHFxDPlVoEF8rLMWeStAjclCyDqLc0nBFixPwE0em7vfStzgublbPzpPqqPYEboORBEpJJFdeb9Lgg8UID2JWAMiOKV4Mi0wTZKjIHvrJUDwdaACnBh1sI%2d3D&umid=eae22d50-0fe1-44b9-b11e-18f18bc55ecd&auth=65a620fa4b6e2edf0405a6ed61dc7465231096cd-eb81784de8be847a166cbc65b512832f60756b0d)
and other online outlets now. **Frater**‘s tenth album overall and his third with**
Big Stir**, **_AERODROME MOTEL_** builds on the success of last year’s acclaimed**
_Earworms_** and marks yet another stride forward for the ever-creatively-restless,
always-impeccably-tuneful Renaissance man.

![](https://i0.wp.com/d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/284050/be2be8a4464d5b0879a329017bf412b1968eac4d/
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**Nick Frater** stands out on a modern pop landscape populated by innumerable prolific
self-professed polymaths by virtue of not having to profess anything about himself
at all. The critics and tastemakers of the indie-pop world are more than happy to
do it for him: **_Earworms_** was 2021’s Album of the Year at **Powerpopaholic**.
The previous year’s **_Fast & Loose _**won **Frater** a five-star review, and a 
citation as a “pop tunesmith _par excellence,” _in Britain’s revered **Shindig! 
Magazine**. And 2019’s **_Full Fathom Freight-Train_** earned the Album of The Year
honor from **International Pop Overthrow**, with all three adorning countless other
Year’s Best lists worldwide: **_Earworms_** alone ranked in the Top 20 with pop 
scene influencers in the US, UK, Canada, Italy, Sweden and Argentina.

That acknowledged consistency of sheer quality is why a new **Nick Frater** album
is always something special, but each record is also unique… he simply doesn’t repeat
himself.** Frater**’s songwriting has drawn frequent comparisons to Bacharach, and**
_Aerodrome Motel _**sees him  continuing his quest for new catchy hooks and melodies.
But he’s also chosen to take a few risks on this album and explore some broader 
subject matter too. We’re treated the usual rock song territory of love and loss,
but also endangered baby names (on the undeniably catchy single “Dancing With A 
Gertrude”), wave machines (on the title track with its mutual echoes of Elliot Smith
and the Fab Four) and even the graffiti from a toilet door set to music (the horn-
driven, Elton John-inflected “Rough & Tumble”)!

**Frater** tells us: “The last few albums have felt like some big steps forward 
for my songwriting. More and more I’ve enjoyed writing purely from the voice. Frequently
you’ll find me being that person singing at the bus stop or while walking around
the supermarket, recording ideas in to my phone. I get a few funny looks, but I’m
convinced this technique is helping capture some catchy tunes. Having started songwriting
by trying to find surprising and complicated chords – and I still love those songs!–
I also love the idea that a pop song could translate to a Salvation Army band, or
panpipe trio, or 8bit chip tune. Could this song survive being played by kids with
a recorder? I never ever want to hear the answer to that question, but I find it
helps focus my melody writing!”

By the time those supermarket melodies have been refined, paired with dollops of
a trademark lyrical wit, immaculately produced and performed by **Nick** and a sterling
guest cast, they’ve become irresistible earworms that anyone might catch themselves
humming in public. **Frater** lives in a land of 60s/70s sophisticated-pop, a self-
confessed obsession with vintage recording techniques, and a ‘more is more’ approach
to production. **_AERODROME MOTEL_**, named for the long-abandoned London airport
near **Frater**‘s home, hits the tarmac in exactly that mode, with “The Pleasure
Is Mine” bringing to mind Steely Dan. It then dives into a pair of rockers – “Love
Heist” and “Stuck In My Ways” – sporting the kinds of radio-perfect choruses and
soaring harmonies that have made **Frater** so beloved among power pop aficionados
worldwide.

Those hooks are all over the record, of course – it is a **Nick Frater** album, 
after all! – but there’s texture aplenty, and wry observations and introspection
alike informing the lyrics. “Dear Modern Times” is a scathing look at the death 
of nuance in today’s social discourse, in a musical setting Frater calls “The Zombies
meet Billy Joel.” Elsewhere, “American Expressways” brings Brian Wilson-style studio
savvy to an examination of the befuddled ambivalence of a soldier returning from
the front. There’s also the character-study ballad “No Hard Feelings,” which brings
together haunting mellotron strings, a Twin Peaks baritone guitar, backwards tape,
and harmonium against sparse drums, creating an almost cinematic scale to the song
balanced against an intimate and heartfelt vocal.

The album closes with another character study, “White Courtesy Phone,” a blissed-
out psychedelic country-waltz with haunting pedal steel and French horn framing 
a portrait of a traveler who never seems to arrive anywhere. It hearkens back to
the title track, inspired by the artwork of the 1960s motel matchboxes gorgeously
echoed on the album artwork by frequent collaborator **Adam Mallett**. And that’s
the framework of the record’s traveling themes, with Frater bringing his love of
West Coast American mythology and his very British sensibilities together… with 
side trips exploring adult male mental health, finding oneself gagged and bound 
in the back of a getaway car, and just plain rude-sounding but intoxicating glam
rock stomp.

**_AERODROME MOTEL_** is far more than a simple layover or road stop on **Nick Frater**‘
s ever-ascending career path, and it’s thrilling to hear his melodic and lyrical
inventions continue to take flight. Open yourself to **Nick**‘s way of blending 
wit and melody and you’ll likely laugh, cry, and pause to see the world around you
in a new light… often in the space of the same song. Check in on August 19 and stay
as long as you like… just leave the wave machine where you found it, for the next
guests.

![Big Stir Records](https://i0.wp.com/d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/284050/6e93dd79734ce640bf0d4e0e8516effef3acdca4/
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