Gerard Frain Releases “Remember”
Multi-Instrumentalist Gerard Frain utilises his love of unique chord progressions to craft a sound that harkens back to the glory years of folk introspection, but from a wholly modern and authentic Working Class South Yorkshire perspective.
Gerard believes that the very best songs should never outstay their welcome - you say what you have to say, provide appropriate instrumentation (with a tasteful guitar solo) and wrap it up in 3 minutes. “Remember” is no exception to those rules and fulfils its purpose to great effect.
Following on from a featured spot on BBC Introducing Leeds & Sheffield last month, Doncaster based musician Gerard Frain is gearing up for an exciting few months ahead. His last single “Kiss Me Stranger” was written for the short film ‘Sweeping Yellow’ (Dir, Baran Yakut) and premiered at London’s prestigious Raindance Film Festival at the end of June, with critics praising the song in reviews.
As both an unsigned artist and self managed, Frain is viciously independent. Despite coming from working class Doncaster (with its near non-existent music scene), he has decided in recent months to take things into his own hands and has self-funded and organised several sold out shows in his hometown. BBC’s Radio Sheffield’s Christian Carlisle put it best; ‘’If something doesn’t exist, go out and make it yourself - go and do it - and that’s exactly what Gerard has done’’.
His newest release ‘Remember’ is the lead single from an ambitious self-produced record showcasing the best of his talents. Limited to an initial 25 copies, “The Songs of Gerard Frain” is his first physical release, available only on Vinyl at the end of 2024. ‘’As a huge lover and collector of records, this really is a dream come true to have my songs in this format’’, Gerard explained. ‘’This is all self-funded and a testament to all the hard work I’ve put in so far. I’m extremely proud of this small body of work and I can’t wait for people to finally hear it’’.
With musical nods to the likes of John Prine and The Kinks, Gerard is creating a sound unique only to him in the North of England. On ‘Remember’ he’s collaborated with ‘Severn Duo’, the violin and cello duet consisting of Tom McCluskey and Jess Townsend (BBC, Netflix, S4C). Their lush string arrangement provides the perfect accompaniment to Gerard’s tasteful instrumentation, with multi-instrumentalist Frain playing the rest of the instruments on the track.
Gerard Frain is certainly a talent to watch in the coming year.