WHERE DO YOU WANT GHOSTS TO RESIDE

Fren is a new band from 2020, I think? This is their first release I am aware of. I would not have been made aware of it at all except for one note, and that is the guitar player spoke to me one day. Truthfully I have been listening to this album since before most reviews came online, however I like to sit with something I like for a long time before I speak about it. It's been around 7 months, nearly to the day, and I venture I have heard this over 75 times and it is very good. I saw a comparison initially to Anglagard and although I invite the comparison for reasons of crossover audience, this is a very different group. I feel like Anglagard and groups like them strive to paint a musical picture and use their instruments to do just that, whereas Fren always feels like a band of 4 musicians who happen to be very adept at creating a musical picture. I hope that comparison makes sense; I feel like a lot of instrumental music is very cinematic and you get lost in the sound. Fren's album never does that, I am always very aware of 4 incredibly talented musicians working together. As you progress through a really great instrumental prog album, this never stops feeling like 4 musicians in a room looking at each other and having a really good time. I don't want to go track by track here, but more section by section.. as we open in a very "old school keyboard" space, evoking sounds of the 70s, before getting a little jazzier, before turning to full on jazz as the short track 3 turns to Pleonasm. A bit more fusion is added by track 5 and then all of these styles are combined for the final piece. It's so remarkable I have to tell you to just listen. Take 45 minutes, put it on Spotify and listen. The album is $7USD on bandcamp and I can't recommend it enough. I would be hard pressed to pick my top album of 2020 but this is in the top 5. Great production, which is critical in modern times! I bet this album has a really cool recording story. I know nothing about this band but I bet this album was not recorded in one week effortlessly. A lot went into just the recording. 5 stars