Name Benjamin Garrett Birth name Benjamin Garrett Role Musician Website www.fryars.co.uk | Years active 2007–present Origin London, United Kingdom Record label Fiction Records | |
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Occupation(s) Singer, songwriter, producer Labels Make Mine, 679, Fiction Albums Dark Young Hearts, Power, Radio PWR, Love So Cold / In My Arms, The Ides EP Genres Art rock, Synthpop, Baroque pop Similar People Rae Morris, Jimmy Napes, Sinead Harnett, Skylar Spence, Ben Khan Profiles | ||
Fryars power short film
Benjamin Garrett, better known by his stage name Fryars (sometimes stylised frYars), is an English art pop musician from London.
Contents
Career
Fryars released his debut EP, The Ides, in September 2007, and was profiled as The Guardian's "New band of the week" in November. A second EP, The Perfidy, followed in March 2008. His debut album, Dark Young Hearts, was released in September 2009; its first single, "Visitors", features backing vocals from Dave Gahan of Depeche Mode. In October 2012, Fryars issued the song "Love So Cold" online as a free download, followed by the EP In My Arms in January 2013 via 679 Recordings.
In October 2013, 679 released Fryars' EP Radio PWR, which was accompanied by a series of live shows devised with magician Simon Drake. Fryars' second album, Power', which he produced with Luke Smith (formerly of the band Clor) and Rodaidh McDonald, was released in November 2014 through Fiction Records. It followed a lengthy period of what he referred to as "record label limbo", during which he was released from 679 amid the acquisition of parent company Warner Music Group by Access Industries. He described the album as "a soundtrack to a film that does not exist", and released a "B-movie" in the form of an accompanying mixtape titled The Boy in the Hood, as well as developing social media profiles for its characters. Power received positive reviews from Dazed & Confused, The Guardian, and NME.
Fryars' musical influences include David Bowie, Serge Gainsbourg, Kraftwerk, and The Strokes. As a songwriter and producer for other artists, he has contributed to albums including Mika's The Origin of Love (2012), Lily Allen's Sheezus (2014), and Rae Morris's Unguarded (2015); he was additionally featured on Morris's 2014 single "Cold". He co-wrote the song "Johanna" with Miles Kane and Mark Ronson for the film Mortdecai (2015). Fryars is affiliated with Universal Music Publishing Group.