Fragments - Vinyle Rose

Description

Fragments is the debut album from Billy Fuller, co-founder of Beak>. Whilst it is a solo album, it is not in the traditional sense, in that it doesn't represent one artist's thoughts and feelings at one specific time. This record traverses time, collecting fragments of compositions made by Billy alone in his home studio over recent years. Listening, you can hear a work at times guided by a precise vision, and at others simply born from the joy of creating in the moment. During Beak>'s break in early 2025, Billy revisited his compositions and found a common thread, a coherent atmosphere. Each track on this album was composed by Billy alone, and his personality shines through all sixteen tracks. He compares the compilation process to making a mixtape for a friend when he was a child. Fragments is a melancholic, immersive and completely free album. Throughout the album, electronica with kosmische and hantological accents plays freely with melody, finding an emotional resonance with our unpredictable times. Neu!-esque repetitions and motorik grooves pulse beneath distorted electro textures, whilst spoken word passages appear and disappear like transmissions from an unknown broadcast. Flashes of psychedelic prog guitar cut through vaporous atmospheres, pushing the sound towards Fuller's particular hypnagogic pop, at once strange and deeply human. Fragments is not an album focused on singles or trends. This is music created for the love of music, by a musician who has been composing and releasing new music for over 25 years. It is a discreet triumph of musical freedom. Billy Fuller is best known as a founding member, composer and bassist of the band Beak>. Over the last two years, the band has released four albums, numerous singles, EPs and soundtracks. Fuller's bass is always the central element of their compositions, giving Beak> its distinctive sound, built around the bass. Fuller has also been involved in many other projects. He was Robert Plant's bassist from 2003, a collaboration that lasted 17 years. He also played bass on Massive Attack's Heligoland album, contributed to four Baxter Dury albums, and collaborated with Alicia Keys, Billy Nomates, Rachid Taha, Anika, Lucrecia Dalt, Tottenham Hotspur FC and many others. Recommended if you like Beak>, Can and Neu!