Category: Bountiful Hearts

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Bountiful Hearts

Pitfire Review

I’m grateful for all the positive press for Keep It Wild! The EP is available to stream everywhere and if you haven’t seen the video yet, it’s here. Check out this great review from Pitfire:

Mr. Fregoso has been hanging around in the indie rock underground of Berlin for a long time and has been working on this project with the long name for about two years. This small three-song EP shows that you can discover happy pieces between punk, indie and something glamorous with this group.

The opening title track sounds a bit like Dead To Me or something, and it’s a lot of fun. Crooked vocals, self-hating lyrics, tempo and punk guitars, it all puts you in a good mood. It gets a little wilder afterwards with the quasi-glam track «Belarus», where the name of this beautiful country is repeated endlessly in the chorus and one is also reminded of 80s glitter rock. The bouncer “Out of Key” also sounds chaotic and wild, which shakes you up with really appropriately weird indie vocals and quasi-Libertine memories. After that, a nice acoustic piece sung in Spanish is included on my promo copy. Crude but nice.

I hadn’t heard of Fregoso before, but this is a fun thing in every sense. Moody and energetic 10 minutes with sometimes wild singing. Cool!

If you made it this far, here’s wishing you a fantastic weekend! ☀️

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Bountiful Hearts

Tinnitist Mixtape

Keep It Wild makes it to number 4 on Tinnitist‘s 60 Songs to Make You Feel Like a Winner Mixtape. I’m proud to be counted along with some of my fave artists like Thee Oh Sees, Automatic and even Johnny Thunders! Watch the video for Keep It Wild here.

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Bountiful Hearts

Westzeit Review

Wonderful print review of Keep It Wild from Westzeit. Read the translation below and watch the video for the song here. 

“Keep It Wild” is an EP, but also a ‘Best of Album’. Not a ‘best of’ album, mind you, but a selection of songs from a record that should have been released in 2009. Nathaniel Fregoso, frontman of The Blood Arm, had so much on his plate with his band that the half-finished album disappeared into producer David Newton‘s drawer. In the lockdown of 2020, Berlin-based Fregoso rediscovered the songs and decided to compile some of them into an EP. In view of the original time of its creation, the result logically exudes the charm of the noughties: the title track sounds like a rough version of Franz Ferdinand, “Belarus” has the pop appeal of the Kaiser Chiefs, while “Out Of Key” is more in the The Strokes notch. Also included, at least on the promo: A beautiful cover of “Cuando calienta el sol”, originally published in 1961.

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Bountiful Hearts

Keep It Wild Artwork

Viktoria Cichoń created the artwork for Keep It Wild and I’m still over the moon about it. I started following Viktoria’s work after seeing Laura Lee & the Jettes’ Divine Hammer single cover. We began working together last year and it was a lot of fun sending ideas back and forth. Take a look at some alternate versions of the artwork below. Which one is your favorite?

For all you Berlin punk fans, Viktoria is also the drummer of the indie-garage band Lobsterbomb. Check them out!

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Bountiful Hearts

Thoughts Words Action

What a great way to start the week! Thank you Thoughts Words Action for this fantastic review of the Keep It Wild EP. Read an excerpt of the review below and don’t forget to watch the video here.

“…it’s a perfect release to start the working week with, mainly because each composition is a pure rager from beginning to end. Perhaps it possesses only four songs, but that’s enough to get the idea about Thee Nathaniel Fregoso & The Bountiful Hearts. I wasn’t familiar with the band before, but I have to admit Keep It Wild easily became part of my daily playlist. There’s something about this material that keeps me spinning it almost repetitiously.

Thee Nathaniel Fregoso & The Bountiful Hearts also incorporate a healthy dosage of power pop, classic pop, indie pop, and psychedelic music. Maybe the introductory piece, Keep It Wild, commences with abrasive guitars and fast beats, but the band immediately slows down the pace on the second composition, which bursts with pop sensibilities from scratch to finish. Thee Nathaniel Fregoso & The Bountiful Hearts keep their sound as versatile as possible, so you will love both songs no matter which genre you prefer.

The band returns to rock’n’roll waters in the third composition. It is probably the shortest of the four presented numbers. Thee Nathaniel Fregoso & The Bountiful Hearts demonstrate how rock’n’roll tunes can sound catchy, anthemic, and entertainful, even if they’re under two minutes. It’s a perfect track for those listeners who don’t like wasting time on longevous intros, solos, or any other unnecessary things that sometimes spoil the listening experience. Thee Nathaniel Fregoso & The Bountiful Hearts sang the fourth composition in Spanish, and it’s a perfect outro solely performed on acoustic guitar.”

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Bountiful Hearts

Creative Process

How did we come up with the idea for the Keep It Wild video? It all comes down to Ray Mann‘s inventiveness and skill. We spent months developing the Wolf character, scheduling meetings between my work and family responsibilities. I was able to quickly spitball ideas and Ray had the experience to tell me what worked and what didn’t, adding some great references along the way. Scroll through for a look into the creative process and watch the video here.

  1. Still from Keep It Wild
  2. Character references
  3. Highlight from Ray’s notebook
  4. Music video references
  5. Location scouting with my newborn daughter

Thanks for knocking it out of the park, Ray!

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Bountiful Hearts

Four Star Review

Thanks for the stellar review of Keep It Wild, LangweileDich.net! Read the English version below:

The impulsive title track at the start alone is worth listening to this EP! Yes, short-playing records are finding it easier and easier to appear fresh and compact. It’s easier to listen to the songs more than once. But with these just ten minutes, variety is successfully demonstrated and the desire for an upcoming album is made! Okay, maybe you can reduce the Spanish a bit… That’s why the monument on the YouTube thumbnail is very close to me!

Keep It Wild is available everywhere via RIP Ben Lee Records. Watch the video here.

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Bountiful Hearts

Keep It Wild Release Party

Ali Bell and I went to Fellini Pizza this weekend to celebrate the release of Keep It Wild. So far, the feedback has been incredible. Thank you for all the kind words.

Watch the Keep It Wild video here.

Listen to the EP everywhere via RIP Ben Lee Records.

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Bountiful Hearts

Keep It Wild Video

Happy Friday the 13th! The Keep It Wild EP is now available on all streaming services via RIP Ben Lee Records. It was directed by Ray Mann in Berlin last summer and I absolutely love it. Take a look.

Special thanks to everyone who made this EP possible, first and foremost David Newton, Joel Isaac Black, Jessica Espeleta and David Alexander. Without these fine musicians I’d be pissing in the wind.

Viktoria Cichon did an incredible job with the artwork and Bernd Diekjobst made sure to capture my good side for the press photos. Thank you.

Bite it Promotion are crushing the PR side, State 51 have done a fantastic job with distribution and I‘ve even managed a few sales via Bandcamp, so thanks to them too.

Of course, I can’t do anything without the love and support of my wife Ali Bell who has seen releases come and go like sunsets and still loves me whether they are successful or not – I appreciate that.

I’ll have more news for you next week, but please enjoy the EP and video, and leave feedback in the comments. Have a great weekend.

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Bountiful Hearts

Out of Key

Here are Thee Nathaniel Fregoso & the Bountiful Hearts at Three Clubs in 2011, playing a song from the Keep It Wild EP called “Out of Key”. This iteration of the band included Randy Billings on guitar, Becky Gebhardt on bass and Joel Isaac Black on drums. What a lucky guy I am to have played with such great musicians! Watch this rocket-fueled version below.

Keep It Wild comes out this Friday via RIP Ben Lee Records.

Video by Al Pavangkanan.