Review: Jon Fratelli Debuts New Solo Album

Jon Lawler is a musician and songwriter from Scotland best known for his work leading the rock band The Fratellis under the alias “Jon Fratelli”. Fratelli has also played in a band known as Codeine Velvet Club. While he is best known for his roots in rock n’ roll, his brand new album titled Bright Night Flowers is painting a picture of a musician well versed across a variety of genres. Fratelli’s latest album will be released on February 15, 2019 through Cooking Vinyl and the vibe comes in stark contrast to The Fratelli’s infamous “Chelsea Dagger.”

The album Bright Night Flowers boasts a down-tempo, melodic vibe with Gothic Country overtones. The album’s first track “Serenade in Vain” starts off with an operatic vibe from a beautiful string melody and goes straight into a down-tempo Country melody. The album’s title track “Bright Night Flowers” has a very soul-noir essence with its piano melodies. As Fratelli comments on the creation of the album, he says, “Almost all of these songs were written on the piano, which is fairly obvious on first listen. It seemed like the most natural counterpoint to the last album: to move away from fairly loud and colorful songs – some of which were built from mash ups of various ideas – to something gentle that rolled with a bit more fluidity.” His comment about fluidity really resonates with Bright Night Flowers as each song has a down-tempo, almost jazz-like tone. As Fratelli worked on much of the album over the Summer of 2018, the title track’s music video debuted in Ocotober of 2018. The overall vibe of the album is reminiscent of the collaboration album between Norah Jones and Billie Joe Armstrong, known as Foreverly. Fans will be able to see the similarity between the two albums as they both give off a very old-school, Soul-Country vibe.

As the album progresses, the track “Evangeline” picks up a bit in tempo with a more bluegrass style of country, but then Fratelli shakes up the vibe by returning to a very soul-noir vibe with “Rolling By.” Though their are stark differences in tone and tempo across the different tracks on this album, Fratelli moves from track-to-track with ease and keeps the down-tempo Country vibe rolling through each song.

As Fratelli is gearing up for the release of Bright Night Flowers, he will be making a few appearances across the pond in the United Kingdom. Fans in the UK will be happy to hear Jon Fratelli will be making two stops just after his album releases. On Thursday, February 21, fans will have the opportunity to catch Fratelli in London at Bush Hall for just £16.50. Tickets to Fratelli’s London show are still available through Live Nation, but do not sleep on your opportunity to grab tickets! Fratelli will also be making a stop in Glasgow on Friday, February 22, however tickets to this event are currently sold out. As the date for the album release quickly approaches, fans are becoming antsy with anticipation to find out if Fratelli will be extending his tour appearances in promotion of the new album. To ease the anticipation, fans can go ahead and reserve their copy of Bright Night Flowers by pre-ordering here.

BRIGHT NIGHT FLOWERS
TRACK LISTING:

1. Serenade In Vain

2. Bright Night Flowers

3. After A While

4. Evangeline

5. Rolling By

6. Crazy Lovers Song

7. Dreams Don’t Remember

8. In From The Cold

9. Somewhere