Freya Ridings - Blood Orange (Live at Apollo) (2023) Hi Res

23 year-old Londoner Freya Ridings released her singles Blackout and Maps (a breathtaking version of the Yeah Yeah Yeahs original song)in 2017. Produced by Rich Costey, both songs have flown past 2m Spotify streams each. Her latest single, Lost Without You is already proving to do the same as word begins to spread of this young talent hitting flying past 4m streams.

Fast forward a few months and she has secured numerous summer festival bookings, sold-out all her first London headline shows at St. Pancras Church in London, St Giles on the Field and Omeara; both shows promoted by Communion. She is now preparing for her biggest headline show yet at Union Chapel in May.

The album’s first single ‘Weekends’ is a dancefloor-ready, string-laden singalong with a touch of Nile Rodgers-style glitterball disco energy to it.

Elsewhere, ‘Blood Orange’ is primarily influenced by Freya’s love of the classic songwriters of the ‘70s: Carole King, Elton John and Fleetwood Mac. And while there are some modernistic production touches, the core of the sound is the organic warmth of live instrumentation: the acoustic guitars, the exuberant handclaps, the rousing brass and - of course - that voice.