The next release on Second Language Music will be ‘Not On The Radar,’ the first studio album in 11 years by Normandy-based, English singer/songwriter/painter, Mark Fry.
Undoubtedly, Fry is best known for his debut album, ‘Dreaming With Alice,’ released on IT Dischi, (an Italian subsidiary of RCA), in 1972 and largely forgotten about until the early 2000s, when copies suddenly began exchanging hands for thousands of pounds. Now heralded as a “psych-folk” classic, since re-issued several times and now notching up millions of plays on digital platforms, the resurgence of interest in ‘Alice,’ helped convince Fry to return to making music in 2008; ‘Not On The Radar’ being his 4th new studio album this millennium.
Although he has largely outgrown his psychedelic origins, Fry, equally acclaimed as a painter as a songwriter, still knows his way around a tune. The songs here, on his third album for Second Language, are surely among the finest in his now considerable oeuvre. Whether it’s the touchingly ingenuous, vaguely Bill Fay-like ‘Only Love’ (a sort of ‘love song to love’) or the similarly numinous and romantic, ‘Where Would I Be,’ with its haunting choral coda, the aching nocturne, ‘Daybreak,’ or the atmospheric, piano-dappled ballads, ‘Where the Water Meets the Land’ and ‘Big Red Sun’, this is timeless, personal and genuinely moving songwriting given wing by some beautifully restrained, simpatico ensemble playing. Produced by Second Language co-founder, David Sheppard (Ellis Island Sound/Snow Palms), Fry’s studio and live ensemble includes keyboardist/vocalist, Angèle David-Guillou (Piano Magic/Klima), guitarist Iain Ross (Barry Adamson, Laika), Ian Button (Papernut Cambridge), double bassist John Parker (Nizlopi) and Sheppard, himself.
‘Not On The Radar,’ out on May 16th, comes in limited edition solid blue vinyl, CD and download/stream. Pre-order here : https://markfry.bandcamp.com/album/not-on-the-radar
Fry is set to play two rare live shows in London this year, an album launch at Stone Nest on May 16th with full band and as part of A Celebration Of The Incredible String Band at the Southbank Centre on September 20th.
The first single from the album, the title track, ‘Not On The Radar,’ is available now across all digital platforms, backed by a cracking Richard Norris remix. A second single, ‘Daybreak,’ follows on April 18th.
