Freddie Lewis - Sundays (EP)
Rising indie-soul artist Freddie Lewis continues to mesmerise with the release of his profoundly personal new EP Sundays, out on 25th September 2024. Lewis has already gained support from BBC Radio 1 and 6Music, and was named one of PRS’s Keychange Artists of 2023. He is quickly becoming an exciting, unique artist on the rise.
Freddie's new EP sees the release of new track Afternoons, the B-side to his recently released single Sundays. Combining spoken word, indie-soul and jazz-infused sensibilities, this upcoming track is bound to pull on your heartstrings in the best way possible. Talking about Afternoons, Freddie elaborates, “I’d spent some more time working on myself, filling my time with friends and art and writing. It’s the first track I’ve ever released that’s self-produced, so it feels even more emblematic of being on my own, and represents a kind of gaining confidence in solitude. Lyrically, I’m allowing myself to live in the memories of the relationship more, sitting with the loss much more than in Sundays. The lyrics are a bit more stoic in their grief, too, I’m just kind of saying that I think of that person in the Afternoon, but there’s no mention that this is anything to fix”.
Drawing inspiration from the UK's indie-soul scene, Lewis is influenced by the danceable grooves and poetic lyricism of Arlo Parks, the soulful pop of Olivia Dean, and the recently rebranded band Hard Life (formerly Easy Life). Sundays is no exception as it oozes with raw emotion, crisp instrumentation and Freddie’s trade-mark soul-soaked vocal throughout. A mainstay of the Bristol scene and a prominent voice in the UK queer community, Freddie Lewis is celebrated for his talent in capturing moments through melody and words, creating his very own brand of vivid, touching and relatable pop music.
Talking about the A-side single Sundays, Freddie explains, “it’s about figuring out how to fill up my own life in the wake of a significant relationship ending. I’d figured out all the fun things, the late nights and dancing and trips, but in the quiet time there was this space I couldn’t seem to fill. Sundays were the hardest, because they’d always been the highlight of my week. I realised that all the other things were easier because they were a distraction, and sitting at home alone was when the change really set in. Like ‘oh shit I’m on my own now. That’s exciting! And scary.’ Sonically, I wanted the song to reflect this, so I set out to make it sound like a Sunday, lazy and warm, and then the bridge bursts into this flurry of distraction and indulgence and emotion, before returning back, all bare and vulnerable, to the real feeling. I wrote this song on my own at home last year, then took it to my trusted long time collaborator and dear friend Charlie T Smith to produce it. Funnily enough, all the sessions we had on the track, right up until the day we recorded final vocals, were on a Sunday. So the track itself actually helped me to solve its’ own problem. I filled my empty Sundays with this song, and with friends, and with my own ambitions and creativity and all that good stuff.”
Freddie Lewis launched his music career in the summer of 2021 with the single ‘Growing Pains’, making a significant impact on the UK trans community through his viral poem featured in the song's outro. He released his debut EP, Lilac Underpass Mixtape later that year, which received airplay on BBC Radio 1 and 6Music, and he was featured as the cover artist on Spotify’s editorial playlist, Transcend for four months. Since then, Freddie has been championed by BBC Introducing in the West and performed at renowned festivals like Glastonbury, The Great Escape, and Iceland Airwaves. He has also been featured on Spotify playlists such as New Music Friday UK, Fresh Finds and Our Generation, and has received coverage from BBC News and Bristol 24/7 for his lively and captivating live performances. His second EP More Than That, released in 2023, received further Spotify editorial playlisting, and praise from Wonderland, The Line of Best Fit and When The Horn Blows amongst others.
This Autumn, Lewis will embark on the ‘Freddie Lewis Cabaret Tour’, which will combine queer cabaret with drag, burlesque and live music. For Lewis, this tour marks a new beginning. With support from the PRS Open Fund for Music Creators, new music to share, and a diverse lineup of guest queer performers, he is excited to present his enhanced and altogether more raucous live show to new audiences and existing fans across the country.