NEW ARTIST FINDS: FREYA RIDINGS

London alt-singer/songwriter Freya Ridings is wise beyond her years, with a voice as warm and weathered as early Nina Simone and the primal, howling emotionality of Adele, minus the melodrama.

There’s something uncanny about Ridings’ piano pop. With a voice suitable for a woman twice her age, and rocking a timeless style, it’s just as easy to imagine Ridings playing piano in some candle-lit cabaret in the ‘40s as on the radio in 2017, singing her songs of heartbreak and yearning.

FREYA RIDINGS - BLACKOUT

“Blackout,” Freya Ridings’ breakout first single, sounds fresher and more au curant than much of today’s future pop, hip-hop, and r&b - ironic, considering Rich Costey’s production features essentially no bells or whistles. There’s no chopped-up, detuned digital voices; no drilling trap beats; no laser synths. Instead, it’s just Ridings, her thoughts, and a grand piano, all swathed in warm, crystalline reverb.

It’s a good sign of the state of today’s music scene. Substance is starting to outweigh style, and heart wins out against cynical consumerism.

In the case of Freya Ridings and “Blackout,” you get style AND substance, with heart to spare. We here at We Are: The Guard love it when we don’t have to compromise - when we can just have a nice thing, a brand new heartfelt piano ballad, to enjoy.

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