Frederick the Younger is the child of singer/multi-instrumentalist Jenni Cochran and guitarist/keyboardist Aaron Craker. The pair snagged drummer Dave Given in 2015 to embark on a journey driven by songs that recalled classic Beatles and Kinks yet shimmered with psychedelic garage pop.
You hear rays of all that hanging out in the single “Human Child II”, a slow burner of a tune that’s at once dark, mysterious and, alternately, vibrant in its emotional impact. Think a more Westernized version of Dengue Fever or She & Him fascinated with Death Valley rather than the Wall of Sound. It is a reworking of the title tune from
Frederick the Younger‘s 2017 full length, done on a bit of lark, as Cochran explains.
“We recorded a full band version of ‘Human Child’ on a whim when we were on tour last fall in Charleston, South Carolina,” she says. “Our bassist, Jake Hellman, had the idea to record the tune that night because the engineer, Wolfgang Zimmerman, had the night free. The version we’d been performing live had been going over well, and we loved the way it sounded. We also loved working with Wolfgang and ended up recording our next record with him not that long ago.”
The band will take to the road in April with Houndmouth for a series of dates (listed below) that run from Detroit down to Texas. “We couldn’t be more excited to go out with Houndmouth. They have been friends of ours for a while,” says Cochran, “and we’re big fans of their music. That’s doubly exciting because Aaron is also going to be playing guitar with them on this tour.”
TOUR DATES
4/06 – Louisville, KY – Headliners Music Hall
4/12 – Detroit, MI – El Club #
4/13 – Bloomington, IN – Bluebird #
4/14 – Milwaukee, WI – Turner Hall #
4/15 – Madison, WI – Majestic Theatre #
4/16 – Appleton, WI – Tandem Bar
4/17 – Minneapolis, MN – First Avenue #
4/18 – Iowa City, IA – Englert Theater #
4/19 – Columbia, MO – The Blue Note #
4/20 – Kansas City, MO – Truman Hall #
4/21 – Dallas, TX – Granada Theatre #
4/24 – San Antonio, TX – Paper Tiger #
4/25 – Austin, TX – Scoot Inn #
4/26 – Baton Rouge, LA – Varsity Theatre #
4/27- Birmingham, AL – The Saturn #
# – with Houndmouth