FrYars is Ben Garrett, an 18 year old Londoner with a shed-load of talent and the vision and ambition to match. A haunting singer and inspired songwriter, frYars music sets him miles apart from the teen-indie masses and their mundane social commentary. His debut release, ‘The Ides EP’, announces the arrival of a unique artist, with more - beautifully realised - ideas across its four tracks than most acts manage in an entire career.
FrYars music begins life on a piano, before being sonically expanded on his computer, with rich layers of organic and electronic instrumentation. Live shows so far have been limited to intimate affairs around the piano for close friends, and will remain so until frYars has the resources to deliver the show that his music demands - don’t expect to see him first on at the Dublin Castle any time soon.
Whilst frYars is very much the vision of one man, Ben has been aided and abetted by a diverse assortment of co-conspirators along the way: early demos featured schoolfriends Robbie and Max from Cajun Dance Party and Jack from Bombay Bicycle Club as well as Ben Esser (ex-Ladyfuzz) and Flash Louis (now an MTV presenter) on drums and violin; on this ep Ben’s grandmother sings backing vocals on ‘Happy’;’The Ides EP’ was produced with Luke Smith of the (sadly) defunct Clor.
Indifferent to much contemporary music, frYars influences are as hard to place as his sound is difficult to categorise. If pushed he will admit an admiration for the careers of David Bowie and Damon Albarn. He aims “to make something diverse and genre-less and different, without compromising the song” and promises to deliver an album that offers “something for everyone - but everything for no one (except myself).” Lyrically rich, each song on the EP creates characters, imagines worlds, tells a story, but frYars won’t be drawn into explanations - please draw your own conclusions.
FrYars got his amazing sense of rythm and beat from being a drummer in a band before his fame as FrYars, this was The Aneneomie, a very reggae style band with an indie mind set.
