Man On The Roof

Those who like to glimpse at an album cover before making any kind of purchase may get the wrong impression of just what kind of musician Stephen Fretwell is. Take a look at the song titles that grace the back of Man On The Roof, and the presence of a number called ‘William Shatner’s Dog’ raises an eyebrow. Could this be yet another musician more interested in creating laughs than tingles? Quite the opposite actually.
This is Fretwell’s second LP, following his 2004 debut Magpie. The 25-year-old, Lincolnshire-born singer-songwriter certainly has a knack for wrapping infectious, occasionally stunning, vocals and instrumentation around intricate and romantic tales – which are, as it emerges, the foundation of Fretwell’s enviable song writing.
Opener ‘Coney’ plays around with distorted vocals and xylophone for a poppier sound, but it’s the subtle yet deeply effective ‘Darlin’ Don’t’ and the haunting, almost inspiring, chorus of ‘Sleep’ that really steal the show. There are a few dips along the way, but the aforementioned ‘WSD’ is so delicately arranged, with shimmering acoustic guitars and edgy almost-Dylanesque vocals, that you can almost hear all the other singer-songwriters gathering around a building somewhere, mulling over who that man on the roof thinks he is.