“Welcome to the world of frYars. A universe of duelling strangers, deserted lakehouses, speeding cars, and a lonely mail-order bride. A place of violent encounters with bakers, where simpletons and the treachorous mingle in a dreamland of the absurd. A place where a blissfully electro-pop song can hide dark and turbulent lyrical depths under it’s glistening surface.”

Intrigued? You should be, I was. Behind this vivid, abstract musical world is 19-year old Ben Garrett, a self-taught musician who at the age of 16 stumbled upon a music IT program alled Fruity Loops. He began tinkering and came up with the song, ‘The Ides,’ which caused ripples of appreciation.  His PERFIDY EP followed, and attracting a lot of online attention, and eventually a support slot for Goldfrapp. “I found myself at other people’s gigs with all these label people wanting to talk to me,” Garrett remembers. “My manager held them off; I think it would have been bad if I’d made an album back then.” Instead Garrett created his own label (frYarcorp) and for his debut album used demo songs (that other labels’ cash paid for) as its foundation. This debut album features production from Clor’s Luke Smith, The Bee’s Paul Butler, and New Order/PetShop Boys/OMD produce Stephen Hague. Other contributors include Dave Gahan (Depeche Mode) who provided backing vocals for Garrett’s single ‘Visors’, an Albanian cellist to the album’s closer ‘Morning,’ and his grandmother contributed backing vocals to ‘Happy.’

Lyrically, the album is a convex looking glass into a whole new, abstract world, from a young man with a vivid imagination. Garret explained, “Many of the tracks depart from reality because my own life would make a dull record. The songs often take on a  narrative in order to convey a deeper, more personal meaning. So whilst the tales are fictional, they are vehicles for philosophies or corresponding, real world happenings. A good play will often evoke the most real human emotion by itself appearing a little less true to life. Surrealism is an equally powerful way of helping people connect or feel moved by art. Riding through the city on my bike all day is perhaps harder to releate to than those spiders from Mars…”

‘Jerusalem’ opens with stark and clear voice and electriconics. As the song develops keyboards and drum rolls become more prominent, and rabbble-rouser choruses punctuate a narrative on Middle Eastern wars underpinned a strong melody. Lyrically it’s more thana interesting: “… you won’t see anything with your head in the sand…” A god start. ‘The Ides’ is that early song referred to above. It fairly bounces along with an even stronger melody and choruses. Garrett’s voice is detached, natural and sounds more mature than his years. ‘Lakehouse’ has a distinctive dance ambience and more epic soundscape. There’s certainly a high level of adventure and innovation to this young man’s music, but also the ability to adapt to moodier reflection with songs like the eerie ‘Visitors,’ charming, wistful ’A Last Resort’ and beautiful ‘Novelist’s Wife.’ 

There have ben a relatively high number of young British songer/songwriters who have offered pop music of a very different hue in 2009. Garrett heads them all by combining highly original instrumentation, diversity of sound, solid melodic foundations and intelligent lyrics. I can recommend this musical journey…

3.8/5

DARK YOUNG HEARTS IS RELEASED ON THE 21 SEPTEMBER 2009