- Desert Island Cloud Some albums have to be listened to… this is one of them

‘Love Upside Down’ is an extraordinary, emotional, cliché-free cycle of shapeshifting songs, which capture the highs and lows of a new relationship.

This album is the result of a near five-year partnership with Gosling (Ed Sheeran, Lady Gaga, KSI) the mentor FERGUS first met just for a few hours of advice. Everything from his high, heart-melting vocals, unusual phrasing and fiendishly clever lyrics, to his intuitive guitar playing and adventurous spirit had Jake hooked. By the end of that first fortuitous day, the pair had agreed to release one song. That led to a trio of annual EPs before the pandemic-delayed ‘Love Upside Down’ got underway.

All initial album plans were put on hold in 2020 when the pandemic struck, FERGUS exchanged the soon-to-be-locked-down London, for the wide-open spaces of Cambridgeshire and fell in love. The batch of bitter break-up tracks he’d recently written was binned and a new set of songs were soon underway. Fate had intervened again. The result is a warts’n’all look at love. From heady early days in a sun-drenched lockdown haze to the difficulties of returning to work and the sudden separation it involved, to arguments, compromise and accepting the blame for finding fault, Fergus’s poetic lyrics depict real life rather than fantasy.

‘Love Upside Down’ is an extraordinary, emotional, cliché-free cycle of shapeshifting songs, which capture the highs and lows of a new relationship.

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FERGUS, writes all of his songs solo and plays most of the instruments on the album, ably assisted by guitarist Jacob Nation and drummer Mike Cosburn and the complex nature of real relationships is mirrored in the music’s shifting structures and a wide range of styles. Skipping seamlessly from acoustic folk, indie and psychedelic rock to swathes of synths, a dip into jazz and even the spectre of samba. Striking instrumental interludes abound. Songs flit from light to dark or burst unexpectedly into the sunshine. Some are intimate, others expansive.

FERGUS spoke candidly about the album “Thanks to all pre-covid plans being put on hold, I have a much more mature body of work. My sound evolved a lot. Maybe love songs might be an easier sell than my previous angry rants! That said, I’m not naturally an upbeat person and I hadn’t written a happy song in five years. Even now, hearing myself sing about being in love is out of my comfort zone. I feel I’ve covered all bases in ‘Love Upside Down’, I definitely couldn’t write a whole happy album”.

He continued to talk about the lead single “Fight Forever started as a fun song I made when a brief came through to soundtrack an “ironic fight scene”. I wrote a song about two people falling in love whilst having a physical fight. Although I didn’t get the job, I really loved the chorus of the song! So, I rewrote the verses to be less comedic and more dramatic, then added some context in the middle to keep it personal.”

FERGUS has been writing and performing gigs since moving to Bristol to study aged 18, prior to that, he toured with the famous Kings College Choir, FERGUS was just 10 years old when he performed at the Sydney Opera House during a tour of Australia. It’s taken the intervening years for FERGUS to truly believe in his undeniable abilities as a truly original singer-songwriter and performer. His releases to date have received critical acclaim from the likes of BBC Radio 1, 6 Music, Radio X, Absolute Radio, Clash, HUNGER, Wonderland, Songwriting Magazine and Atwood to name but a few. Collectively his songs have amassed over one million streams on Spotify alone.

In September 2021 FERGUS headlined a packed-out show at The Troubadour and continues to entertain on the live circuit into 2022, for venues across London such as The Lexington and The Bedford.

‘Love Upside Down’ delivers a cohesive body of work that captivates from the outset, twisting and turning from one spellbinding story to another showcasing FERGUS as a rising star in the making.