Project Description
FFREDI BLINO
‘(Take Me Back To)
HONOLULU’
(Single Review)
(23rd January, 2021)
Reviewer: Simone Tyrrell
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“I got lost in this for a minute… Great escapism! Lovely tune” – Badly Drawn Boy
“Dear folk with good ears please let your lug holes loose on this @ffrediblino Welsh beauty” – Carl Hunter, The Farm
“I doubt that many bands have been dubbed They Might Be Giants meets The Sultans of Ping, but by eck this is a welcome slab of technicolor pure pop joy” – Kevin Sampson, Writer
“from the new album The Dishwasher Tapes – it sounds a fascinating trip and I can’t wait to jump in” – Cerys Matthews, Catatonia/BBC Radio 6
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Ffredi Blino, originally from Australia, but now calls Wales home; has released his debut EP “The Dishwasher Tapes” (above). Like many artists in 2020, this EP was recorded at home with just the basics of a mic, an old Windows Vista laptop and no bandmates.
Ffredi invented the name Ffredi Blino through his love of linguistics and incorporating an expression from his now homeland. There is a Welsh phrase ‘wedi blino’, which means ‘tired’. His name was derived from this expression. His love of linguistics also shines through on other tracks on the EP where he incorporates English, Flemish, Mandarin, French and Welsh in one of his songs.
Ffredi has a brand-new single from the EP out now titled “(Take me back to) Honolulu”. It is a fun track telling a story where a guy wins a trip to Honolulu through a karaoke competition.
It is a charming track with that lovely ukulele sound that you associate with Hawaii. The sound is light and breezy with an upbeat tempo and is an easy tune to sway along to.
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The delivery of the vocals is done in a talking singing style. You could describe this style as “Sprechstimme” which is the German word to describe speaking and singing. But for us non linguists, think of the song ‘Pepper’ by the Butthole Surfers. Sing/Talking for the verses and singing in the chorus.
The chorus features a very different vocal to the verses with a higher pitched vocal singing “Take Me Back To Honolulu” (Think Stayin Alive by the Bee Gees). The chorus also features non lexical vocables of do do do’s. It is very catchy and will have you singing the do do do’s along with the song after the first round.
Ffredi also has a cool video clip (below) to go along with this lighthearted song. A video clip filmed with a green screen and showing various footage and imagery from Honolulu with the whole band of bass, keyboard and drums.
With travel restrictions in 2020 and still with many travel restrictions in place at the moment, listening to Ffredi’s “(Take me back to) Honolulu” song really gives you that longing to return to a destination with pristine beaches, gorgeous scenery and relaxing activities. If we cannot travel yet, we can at least listen to Ffredi Blino and have him take us there through imagination and song.
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Check out FFREDI BLINO below
Website – Facebook – Twitter – Instagram
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FFREDI BLINO
single
‘(TAKE ME BACK TO) HONOLULU’
a hit with
UK music luminaries from
BADLY DRAWN BOY, CATATONIA
& THE FARM
Australian-expat now long-time Wales resident Ffredi Blino recently released debut album ‘The Dishwasher Tapes’, featuring breezy new single ‘(Take Me Back To) Honolulu’. The track and its quirky video have been gaining attention amongst UK music luminaries from Badly Drawn Boy to The Farm, and scoring airplay on BBC Radio Wales, BBC Radio Cymru, and BBC Radio 6 hosted by Catatonia’s Cerys Matthews, who has invited Ffredi in for an interview.
HONOLULU on YouTube – Spotify – Apple
Ffredi Blino (pronounced Bleeno) grew up in the Southern Hemisphere, gravitating to guitar and songwriting from age 4. His first composition was “A Bare Bottom” – arguably a high point! There followed years of fronting scratchy rock’n’roll bands, with a competing pull towards melodic, acoustic folk.
Home-made, lo-fi and genre-neutral, Ffredi’s new solo project mashes these sounds together with funky pop and modern Welsh influences. His multi-lingual debut album ‘The Dishwasher Tapes’ was recorded at home in September 2020 and is defined by the limited tools available: a single mic, a creaking Windows Vista laptop and no bandmates! The ethos is lo-fi, the drums are (mostly) electronic, happy mistakes are kept in, and experiments are everywhere.
The influences are as diverse as: Pavement, Prince, Gruff Rhys, Talking Heads, Joni Mitchell, Lou Reed… plus a whole lot of unconscious ones which will jump out differently to different listeners.
Why ‘Ffredi Blino’? It’s an invented name which reflects Ffredi’s love of linguistic word-play and gives a big nod to his adopted homeland. In Welsh, ‘wedi blino’ means ‘tired’ – you might say it in the middle of a yawn. ‘Ffredi Blino’ turns that phrase into a name – and one that a non-Welsh-speaker can have a good chance of pronouncing right at first glance!
As frontman of various bands, Ffredi has performed at a range of gigs and festivals around mid-Wales for the last 10+ years, including Radnor Fringe, MachFest, Workhouse and his Llanidloes hometown offerings: KINGSfest and Sesiwn:Session. His debut gig as Ffredi Blino was in late December 2020, for the live streaming KINGSfest Xmas show.
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