Album: Fred again.. & Brian Eno – Secret Life
Many artists cite Brian Eno as an inspiration, but few can actually call him a mentor. Fred Gibson can. The London-born hitmaker known as Fred again..—who recently headlined Madison Square Garden and Coachella alongside Four Tet and Skrillex—grew up next door to Eno and joined his a cappella group as a teenager. There, the pioneering ambient musician took Gibson under his wing, eventually asking him to co-produce his 2014 albums with Underworld’s Karl Hyde. It was a dream tutelage, the effects of which can be heard in Gibson’s pining, atmospheric house tracks that eagerly flood busy dance floors with raw, tender feeling.