CityLife

SWAP '06: Stephen Fretwell @ RNCM

15/07/06

AFTER being reportedly holed up in a studio in New York City working on his second album, Stephen Fretwell popped back into Manchester for an occasion that couldnét be better suited to the beautiful melancholy of his songs.

Ités easy to forget that Fretwell isnét a Mancunian, such is the reception he receives from local audiences and his trademark flat vowels. Never more at home than when he is on these streets, it is one heck of a homecoming, the splendid surroundings of a theatre usually accustomed to classical performances making for an intimate but grand affair.

The biggest surprise, for anyone who hadnét had prior warning, was that he would be undertaking the whole show alone (give for a brief appearance from guitarist Jonny Lexus).

The working environment of a singer-songwriter is not often to be envied, being alone and vulnerable on stage but, tonight he made the cavernous theatre feel like his front room.

Magpie

Drawing extensively from his debut album Magpie, there isnét a single sound from the audience throughout the set. With favourites like Bad, Bad You, Bad, Bad Me and of course Emily there are obvious highlights which everyone was looking forward to hearing and it is all too rare that just a guitar and poetic words can make more noise than a full band. For tonight Fretwellés talent was deafening.

For every toe-tapping crowd-pleaser there were a number of new songs that prove that there are more magical moments in the pipeline when his follow up eventually does arrive. Not straying from a beaten musical path, gentle guitars strum along to simple tales from a young manés eyes.

Despite the heartfelt sentiment and acoustic guitar, he brings the house down like a rock show would. Far from being drippy and sentimental Fretwellés songs stir feelings that subdue the listener with considerate calm only for the silence in between songs to be filled with rapturous applause and hoots of adoration.

It is to be hoped that when he returns with his next commercial offering, the energy of performances like these is captured. If this is anything to go by, Fretwellés star has only just begun ités ascent.

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