Track Premiere: Parker Smith “Fray”

We’re into Nils Lofgren / Southside Johnny territory with today’s song premiere – Parker Smith has a new album ‘Underground‘ out on April 9th and the grooving ‘Fray’ is taken from it. There’s some smooth touches, but there’s also a nicely guttural guitar break or two. It’s urban rock, scuffling around on the edges with “nothing to give, nothing to lose” and a loser’s honesty “sorry I’m late – but I don’t have a good excuse.”

Parker Smith explained how the song came together: “I had the main groove for ‘Fray’ stuck in my head for a while before finding the right lyrics. It’s a bit of a departure from other songs I’ve written in the past in terms of tempo and feel, but something about it just felt right. I had another riff before the chorus that I knew I wanted some sax to double, so I called up Zac Evans. He played some great fills throughout and a soulful solo that tied the whole song together. ‘Fray’ also has my favourite drum part on the album. The percussion and drums work so well together, and Colin Agnew always knows how to play what is right for the song. Chris Case added some lyrical piano fills throughout the track and put the icing on the cake.”

He also shared some thoughts on the song’s content: “I’m no stranger to sleepless nights (especially during a pandemic), and sometimes I’ll wake up in the middle of the night and read for an hour to slow my thoughts down:

“Can’t sleep at night, wake up estranged
Grab a book, put my finger on the page
Find the flashlight, read to the break of day….”

The song is about how we bury trauma, making excuses for our behaviour instead of doing the work to sort through the root of our problems. We all have to look ourselves in the mirror at the end of the day, and sooner or later, denial will catch up with you.”