Photo by Brad Krieger

Difficult Freedom album art

Alex Fatato of Alexander definitely knows the power of a simple song done right. And so one of Boston’s most beloved (and prolific) songwriters is back again this fall with a new album entitled Difficult Freedom. We named 2020’s Wonderland among our favorite local releases last year, and fans of that record’s homespun sound and unguarded storytelling will certainly find plenty to love about Freedom. Recorded in relative isolation last January at his father’s office and church in Western Mass alongside (yeah, we’ll say it) local area Superproducer Brad Krieger, the duo packed a car full of gear and knocked out the record’s nine songs over the course of just one weekend. Accounting of course, for breaks catered by Fatato’s mother, who dropped off homecooked meals. As on Wonderland‘s follow up EP1, Krieger provided drums, bass, piano, and lap steel and also produced, recorded, mixed, and mastered Difficult Freedom, lending a familiar mood and tasteful feel to Fatato’s short, but never slight tunes. 

Much like previous Alexander releases, Fatato addresses himself in third person, often in pointedly plainspoken verbiage, and surrounds those feelings in modest (at least at the surface-level), but affecting instrumentation. Dutiful listeners of his discography could perhaps read these efforts as a conscious decluttering of the everywhere-at-once approach of his prior “high school band,” the legendary Du Vide. In fact, Fatato cops to a desire to “stop being so emo” as an impetus for the stylings of his latest musical endeavor. One could also see parallels between it and the clarity achieved by the late David Berman on Purple Mountains, a heroic ur-text for the vulnerable Americana-flecked indie rock displayed on Freedom. This is a leap aided no doubt by Fatato’s inclusion of a Berman drawing among the press materials for the record.

Today we are pleased to be premiering the second single (after “Prarie” which came with a colorfully animated lyric video) from Freedom entitled “River.” The song, like many on the record, initially finds Fatato addressing his bad habits with contempt before allowing himself some space to improve over time. He had this to say about it:

“I wrote “River” after a day floating on a river in New Hampshire in the summer of 2020. I had kind of an epiphany/bliss moment being carried down the river, it felt perfect and safe. And then I opened my eyes and my friends were far away down the beach, so I had to walk against the current to get back to them.”

Alexander is self-releasing Difficult Freedom on cassette and digital October 1st. You can pre-order copies of either right here.