West Londoner Freddie Dickson’s debut cut ‘Shut Us Down’ hinted that he had the guts and guile to mix it with the likes of Lana Del Rey and Frank Ocean in the cinematic-pop stakes. Well, the 24-year-old has just inked a deal with Heart Throb Records to release his first four-track EP of the same name and is now streaming another track, ‘The End’, ahead of its 20 May release.
A darkly compelling lullaby anchored around a simple, stylized guitar motif; ‘To The End’ homes in on Dickson’s broken-boned lyricism more than its scarred flesh instrumentation. Hollowed-out beats and pulsating bass notes clot with the youngster’s breathy croon; sparse and functional, it’s the narrative that mesmerizes.
Dickson’s story blooms from a milky twilight waltz into the broken and bruised finale via an emotionally charged middle eight. Like thumbing through a blotted neo-noir comic; there was never going to be a happy ending here.
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