Album Review | ‘Sound of My Youth EP’ by Fred Roberts
Roberts’s debut release displays a knack for catchy hooks and evocative songwriting.
Roberts is no stranger to the industry. Fred was scouted for the first and only season of The X Factor: The Band at the age of 17. Although making it as one of the finalists in the band, the group was fizzled out quickly thereafter. He didn’t allow this to stifle his success. With words of encouragement from his mother, he began working on his music during lockdown. Fred embraces his sexuality on his debut release the Sound of My Youth EP. In conversation with NME, Roberts describes how the culmination of events that occurred in his formative years shaped the themes of this project:
“… My new EP is about what happened in my life between the ages of 14 and 19, so in some ways, I have reignited parts of my younger self while working on these songs in the studio. I am telling these stories for him, you know? He wasn’t open with how he felt; he just hid away and didn’t tell anyone when he was struggling. When I think about all the steps I have taken in order to be able to write and sing about that time in my life, I almost feel a little overwhelmed, as well as proud.” — Fred Roberts via NME (2024)
We begin by finally getting closure from an ex-lover on “Runaway.” Roberts drifts across a river from smooth guitars that flicker into life once the chorus hits. Fred swallows his fears of falling back into old habits and confronts his ex to finally close this chapter in his life, “You don’t need to run away, run away/ ’Cause I won’t be making the same mistakes/ We’re falling in and out of love, and people change/ I’ve changed, I’ve changed, I’ve changed/ You don’t need to run away, run away/ ’Cause I’ll never throw it back in your face/ We’re falling in and out of love, and people change/ I’ve changed, I’ve changed, I’ve changed.” I like how everything springs up like a firework at this moment. It feels like Roberts is flooded with the confidence to finally snuff the fading flame of this hot and cold romance.
“Say” aches over the time lost on a past love and the one-sided nature of their romance. There is a bit of 80s flavor hung over this song’s pop set dressing. Fred yearns to a least get some crumb of appreciation for the amount of themselves he had given to them, “Say, say I wasn’t just a waste/ Say you needed me to cry on/ Oh, but you never felt the same/ All I wanted was to be someone that you didn’t hide from/ Pick me up when you needed comfort/ Say, say you wanted me to stay.” I immediately see why this song was chosen as a single. It’s incredibly catchy. I love how Roberts hangs on “say” in the chorus. This just holds desperately at the hope that your ex felt the same heartache that you’re currently weathering.
“Disguise” shares a very vulnerable side of Roberts as he wishes he wasn’t a secret that this man kept from the world. His longing voice hovers over the amorphous indie-pop that gives this painful memory its dreamy quality. Fred opened up with MYP Magazine on how he wanted to share this experience with others to help listeners feel less alone:
“Disguise was a big step further of being very specific: this song is about one of the most vulnerable experiences I ever had. The fact that this story is now out in the world feels exciting, because the reason why I make music is to let people who are going through the same shit know that they’re not the only ones who feel this way. In my opinion, it really takes a personal story to help someone else. It can make people feel less scared. Music is so transformative, you know? The flip side is: I feel that the story is not owned by me any more. That’s very weird, but that’s also what makes the song so special.” — Fred Roberts via MYP Magazine (2024)
He tells the story of an ex whose closeted life led to him getting hurt as his feelings didn’t mirror Roberts, “It makes no sense seeing you with her/ I guess that proves I never really knew you well/ Do I wish that I was somebody else?/ Someone that you don’t need to hide/ So I could see the half of your life that you were keeping to yourself/ Do I wish that I could go back in time?/ And love you in the day and the night/ Or maybe it’s my luck in disguise that you were never really mine.” It gives a different side to the heartbreak that comes from this experimentation that Troye Sivan sang about in “One Of Your Girls.” I admire how open Fred is on this track.
Fred mulls over the shattered memories of his past relationship trying to mend his broken heart in “Naivë.” Its distant electric guitar and quiet synth roll in like the morning fog. This punctuates the hazy emotions that hang over Roberts in the aftermath of his breakup with his ex, “Boy, you showed me how to love/ But no one taught me how to lose you/ How could something hurt so much/ When I didn’t even mean to choose you?/ Running over cobbled streets/ Thought you’d always be beside me/ How could I be/ So naïve?” I love how the sound ricochets around you much like the tender memories of romance that now bring bittersweet hot tears down your cheeks.
The closing and titular track, “Sound of My Youth,” seeks to shake us from living in the past. I have to say some of the guitar work on this track is a bit too abrasive for me. Fred looks at how all his actions have kept his planted back in time without moving him forward, “It was ringing so clear/ Before I heard the sound (Before I heard the sound)/ It was moving under my feet/ Before I hit the ground/ Oh, after everything/ I’m still dancing around the truth/ Oh, after everything/ I’m still dancing to the sound of my youth.” While I enjoy how the momentum is dialed up when the chorus hits, this song feels the weakest when compared to the prior tracks that came before.
I can hear how Roberts was influenced by Sivan in some of the productions carried across this EP. “Say” displays his keen ear for an earworm. You will easily be caught humming the chorus without warning after hearing it one time. “Disguise,” on the other hand, brilliantly shows his ability to write a captivating story that I think many in the LGBTQIA+ community can relate to. The only song that didn’t grab me was the title track. I felt some of the guitar work to be too distracting to keep my attention on the words Fred was singing. I have to say this is a solid jumping point for Roberts to continue to grow as a songwriter and performer. I have to say if Troye Sivan’s last album spoke to you, then you should give this release a listen.
My overall thought on the Sound of My Youth EP:
Loved it: “Say”, “Disguise”, “Naivë”
Liked it: “Runaway”
Disliked it: “Sound of My Youth”
My overall rating: 7.0 out of 10.
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