In Conversation

05 December 2008 04:35 BST

Stephen Fretwell – It's damp up north

Some people may be put off by the stereotype of the 'grim north'. Stephen Fretwell isn't. In fact, he loves it.

Despite the sun, InTheNews' Richard Fox finds singer-songwriter Stephen Fretwell in a less-than-chirpy mood.

"The rain in Manchester has inspired me. Since I moved here my songs have got weirder. There may be a correlation but I don't know."

Fretwell is an intriguing soul. His music is incredibly passionate yet he is a man of few words - even on a day when the sun shines over his adopted home town of Manchester.

"Manchester has been great to me but you’d never come here for the weather," Fretwell muses. "The music here is great, the passion people have for the city is amazing but the weather is rubbish."

Whatever his views on the city he now calls home, Fretwell clearly gets some inspiration from it. His new album, Man On The Roof, reaches new heights. Three years after the critically-acclaimed Magpie, Fretwell shows on his new record that he has grown up. The album ebbs and flows as if part of a dreamy state of consciousness.

However, it is all a distant memory for Fretwell.

"I recorded it last year at the same time as the Four Letter Words EP and I gave it to the record people in April so, to be honest, I've kind of forgotten about it.

"It's great that it's getting a release and I want it to do well, this pays my bills! However, the whole recording of it was so long ago that I've moved on from it."

Man On The Roof, however, is not Fretwell's second major recording for he seems to prefer releasing EPs to full-length albums. In 2002 8 Songs was released on the Northern Ambition label, which was set up by a friend. This was followed, in the intervening years, by Something's Got To Give, The Lines and Four Letter Words, which got its release in May this year.

"The early years were tough. I knew what I could do and I knew I was pretty good at what I did. I just didn't know how to get my music out there. Luckily Northern Ambition was there and helped me a lot."

It's lucky he did. The Scunthorpe-born singer-songwriter is a step ahead of his mainstream contemporaries; Blunt and Morrison are light-years behind. Comparisons to Damien Rice are close but lyrics about redemption, life and love put Fretwell more in the Leonard Cohen or Bob Dylan mould.

While comparisons "are not a good thing", Fretwell is not a stranger to such high musings. When he was just breaking on to the scene in 2003, Q Magazine named him "Scunthorpe's finest export...ever". He shrugs off such praise.

"Scunthorpe was ok but I had no choice to be there. It was where my parents lived and as a child I had no choice. I go back now and again to see my parents. I can't think of anything worse than going back to Scunthorpe to live though."

At this rate, he won't need to. Man On The Roof has the air of a timeless classic, but only time will tell if it is. For now, Stephen Fretwell is more than content in the damp surroundings of Manchester.