Fred Everything interview: “Let me find my own light”
We catch up with the veteran producer in his Montreal studio
Frederic Blais is sat in his home studio in Montreal, surrounded by racks of synthesisers, beaming from ear to ear. It’s perhaps not surprising; after all, he’s just unleashed a new album on the world – his first full-length set of original music as Fred Everything for six years – and he’s naturally quite proud of it.
“It’s a personal expression of what I felt, basically,” he enthuses. “It’s the first album that I’ve made that started with a sentiment and… what’s the word… a statement of intent. I’m someone who’s extremely critical of my own music – I don’t play a lot of it – but when I hear this, I feel good. I’m proud of what I did with this album because ultimately it does sound like me and it comes from me, my environment and my history.”
The album in question is Love, Care, Kindness and Hope, which was recently released on vinyl (digital will follow shortly, with two extra tracks that couldn’t fit on the LP) via the Lazy Days Recordings imprint he established way back in 2005. A gorgeous, musically detailed exploration of his now trademark sound – one rooted in deep house, but which also owes a debt to broken beat, soul, the futurism of Detroit and the dub-fired headiness of early ‘90s UK house and techno – the album is his strongest and most coherent sonic statement to date. Given his track record – 2004’s Light of Day, on 2020:Vision, remains one of the strongest deep house albums of the early 21st century – that’s some going.
“I think the idea for the album was to reach inside, look at what I know, find my true honest voice and understand what I wanted to express,” Blais says cheerfully. “It was that rather than thinking about what it’s going to do or how it will be received. Not caring about that stuff is a scary thing, right, but it’s what I’ve got to do and where I’m going. From now on that’s what I want to explore.”
For those familiar with Blais’ musical journey since the mid-90s, it’s an album that concisely showcases where he’s from, and where he’s going. For those who’ve not paid close attention to his career, it’s dotted with clues, from the use of his own vocals – a nod to his roots as a teenage singer in hybrid electronic/indie bands in Quebec City – and occasional nods to the UK and Chicago-made records of the 1990s that inspired his move into house production, to the presence on mastering duties of Martin ‘Atjazz’ Iveson – an old friend and collaborator that Blais also describes as a “mentor”.
“After I got signed to DiY Discs [in 1995] I started going to the UK to play for them and I think it was on my second trip over that I met Martin for the first time,” he recalls. “It’s hard to explain how much that relationship has done for my musical career, because although we started at a similar time, he helped me out loads. He helped me with my very first album, we made a track together and he let me use his studio to write a track. Fast forward to when I was making this album, and at the same time I was working on an album with him.”
We’ll have to wait for that album, but for those versed in Iveson’s musical history, you’ll find plenty of subtle looks in his direction on Love, Care, Kindness & Hope– not least colourful synths, fluid grooves, impeccable horn arrangements and simmering strings.
Iveson’s influence should not be overstated, though; it is still a Fred Everything album, albeit one with an impressive cast list of collaborators and far more musical detail enveloping his infectious and fluid grooves.
The album has its roots in Blais’ decision, early in the lockdowns that accompanied the global coronavirus pandemic, to head to a studio retreat in the mountains for two weeks, accompanied by a slender selection of synths and drum machines – as well as a Post-It note featuring the words that now act as the album’s inspirational title.
“Going on that studio retreat was important, because every day it was like, ‘today I’m going to do something I’ve never done before,” Blais explains. “I’m just going to work hard at it, and something will come out of it. Martin [Iveson] said it sounded like I was free when I made it and that’s right. I’m glad that someone can hear that because I did have freedom to create and not necessarily think about this box people put you inside. It was just, ‘today I’m going to do this’ because I feel like doing it’.”
The importance of that lockdown studio retreat in the evolution of Love, Care, Kindness & Hope is obvious, but Blais is at pains to point out that the set should not be considered a ‘pandemic album’: “The title comes from that self-reflection that a lot of us did at that time, but the reason I went to the retreat was because we were stuck in this loop, always seeing a bit of light at the end of the tunnel and then invariably going back into that tunnel [when lockdowns returned]. I was like, ‘I’m not going back into that tunnel – let me find my own light’.”
While that period of self-reflection resulted in initial track sketches, the album’s eventual shape and sound owed more to Blais’ dedication to his craft and the contributions of the various musicians and artists he reached out to on his return to Montreal. Multi-instrumentalist Finn Peters arranged the horns, with Pete Whitfield arranging and recording strings. Then there’s the impressive cast list of vocalists, which includes the ‘voice of house’ himself, Robert Owens, soul man Sapele, rising star James Alexander Bright, and Stereo MC’s veteran mic man Rob Birch.
“Working with Stereo MCs was great,” Blais beams. “I did this kind of dub techno thing, which was initially just an exercise. I’d been in touch with Rob from the Stereo MC’s before – they charted my music and they did this thing on Freerange. Back then I told Rob I was a big fan and asked whether he would be interested in collaborating, but at the time they didn’t have much time. During the pandemic they did, so when I reached out, he said yes. Getting Stereo MC’s on ‘Soul Love’ was fun and I knew we were doing something a little bit different.”
The album’s most stunning moment, though, is arguably ‘A Long Time Coming’ – a collaboration with Sapele, who had previously featured on a 2017 album by Blais’ friend Ludovic Llorca – another long-serving deep house producer who is better known these days for his Art of Tones project.
“It was the most difficult track to make, but it has turned into one of my favourites,” he explains. “Originally, I sang it – all of the backing vocals on there are me – but I wanted more, so I asked a few people, including people I had worked with before, whether they wanted to feature on it. I always liked Sapele’s vocals on the Llorca track so I contacted him. He delivered such a beautiful vocal – it was like the missing piece in the puzzle. Then Finn [Peters] added flute and sax. I was like, ‘my God, this is amazing’. His contribution to the album should not be underestimated.”
It’s true that Peters’ contributions are impressive, but it’s the effortlessly timeless quality of the music on offer – rooted in house, and largely playable in clubs, but much more than merely a set of dancefloor workouts – that makes Love, Care, Kindness & Hope such a beguiling listen. It’s an album that was designed as one, inspired by a golden age of electronic full lengths, presented as something to be listened to from start to finish.
“Actually, I was thinking about that this morning, because I noticed some of the DJ feedback said, ‘it’s a nice collection of tracks’,” Blais says. “It’s not a collection of tracks like those old house double-packs when it was just tracks for the dancefloor –it’s an album. House producers can make great albums – think of Moodymann or Larry Heard – but with this I was trying to find the balance between home listening and the club. This album is rooted in house but it’s not a house album. It’s a personal expression that started with a statement of intent – love, care, kindness and hope. The first album I ever made started with a sentiment, too, so it’s like I’ve come full circle.”
Matt Anniss