Fred Again and Brian Eno, who have been colleagues since 2014, are set to release their first collaboration titled Secret Life. This follows Fred Again’s involvement in Eno’s Someday World and High Life, for which he received writing credits. Eno was impressed by Fred Again’s talent and subsequently became his mentor. In turn, Fred Again taught Eno about contemporary music.
On 2 May 2023, Four Tet, an English producer who had previously worked and toured with Fred Again, announced the upcoming release of Secret Life. Four Tet praised the album, calling it “the most beautiful album of 2023”. The release date was revealed to be 5 May, and snippets of the songs were played daily at 10:00 PM BST on the promotional website secretlife.fm prior to the official release.
Fred again.. and Eno have collaborated in the past, despite the upcoming album not being their first joint effort. The two artists have a history that goes back to Fred again..’s teenage years when he lived next door to Eno and joined an a cappella group at his studio. In 2014, they worked together for the first time on Eno and Karl Hyde’s albums, Someday World and High Life, with Fred again.. serving as a co-producer on the former and a songwriter on both.
Despite contributing to classic albums by David Bowie and Talking Heads (not to mention his own works), Eno talked up Fred again..’s skills as a producer in an interview with Apple Music last year. Describing his penchant for “non-linear” loops that cut off quickly in songs, he gushed, “I started listening to music differently when I watched how Fred was making it.”
