Frederick The Younger's sonic Polaroid on the hazy muted love of "Everybody Wants To Take You For A Ride"

"like a sonic Polaroid"

I don't know why some forms of art feel tied to past decades but I do know that the track Everybody Wants to Take You for A Ride by Louisville, Kentucky indie rockers Frederick The Younger has (for me) a decidedly 60's / 70's sound. It is something about the composition itself and maybe lead vocalist and multi-instrumentalist Jenni Cochran's vocal style that feels part aloof and fatalistically dour in that "I really don't give a shit when I die as long as I really live" sort of way and while Everybody Wants to Take You for A Ride is (for the band) a slower departure even on their more cagey and upbeat songs they simply possess that pivotal older sound. Very organic, very blues rock based pushed through a bit of psyche / hippie rock which I have always referred to garden rock. Frederick The Younger's aesthetic feels like a sonic Polaroid, cool and groovy and earnest. Much Love.

-
Robb Donker Curtius

PRESS NOTES:

Hailing from Cleveland, Ohio, singer and multi-instrumentalist Jenni Cochran grew up loving music. Going as far back as third grade, Cochran had a fire to write songs. Years later, while living in Vietnam, Cochran knew that she had to keep following music, that she needed her adventures to continue.

Growing up in Louisville, Aaron Craker learned to play guitar and keyboard at an early age. Eventually forming the band Dr. Vitamin, so named for his grandfather who discovered vitamin’s A and D, Craker dedicated himself to his craft. Running into Cochran at an improv acting group, the two hit it off and have stuck around since.

The rest was history. They spent time together. They wrote some songs, then a record, and then a few more. They worked with some friends before finding their drummer Dave Givan in 2015. Jake Hellman came in just last summer to carry the bottom end on bass, and brought a new found energy to the group. The band is their bond, formed on rock and roll through the lens of psychedelic garage pop, the Kinks or Beatles modernized with the hint of Western music teasing at the edges. 

There is an earnestness to their newest songs that rings true, the kind of sincerity born from experience. These songs feel alive and well-lived, tragic, beautiful, and contemplative, all with a solid hook. Frederick the Younger will haunt your memories, lodging themselves into your brain and refusing to let go. They will hold your hand and dance, and talk to you afterwards. These are the friends you didn’t know you had, singing to you in the dark, and guiding you to the light.