Sasha Frere-Jones's evolution as a writer and musician with the deceptively casual intelligence that marks all of his work. Shuttling between his first year of life (1967) and the year he wrote the book (2020),
Earlier is a glorious sequence of moments, a record of the experiences that set the shape of a life. Frere-Jones's prose floats between clinically precise fragments and emotional impressions of revelations, pleasures, and accidents. It's a book about how lives happen and sensibilities form.
As fellow music critic Alex Ross observes, "It is weird to write a book about yourself, as this book is well aware. Gazing in the mirror is not mass entertainment. Sasha Frere-Jones, a writer of nonchalant, rope-a-dope power, drops the illusion of self-knowledge and instead offers up a kaleidoscope of memory shards, faithful to the chaos of inner and outer worlds. Earlier is funny, cool, raw, wise, and secretly sublime."
Begun in 2010,
Earlier was completed at the request of Deborah Holmes, to whom the book is dedicated. Holmes is the mother of Frere-Jones's two boys, Sam and Jonah. Diagnosed with pancreatic cancer in July of 2020, Holmes died in January of 2021.
Earlier is the last book she read. Frere-Jones says, "Deborah was the most enthusiastic reader I've ever met. She read when she wasn't doing something else, and that never changed. She asked me to write this when we met, in 1990. I am sorry I made her wait so long."
Sasha Frere-Jones 作為作家和音樂家的演變，展現了他所有作品中那種看似隨意卻深具智慧的特質。《Earlier》在他生命的第一年（1967年）與他撰寫此書的年份（2020年）之間穿梭，呈現了一系列輝煌的瞬間，記錄了塑造生命的經歷。Frere-Jones 的散文在臨床精確的片段與情感印象之間漂浮，描繪了啟示、快樂和意外的感受。這是一本關於生命如何發生以及感性如何形成的書。
正如音樂評論家 Alex Ross 所觀察到的，「寫一本關於自己的書是奇怪的，這本書也深知這一點。凝視鏡子並不是大眾娛樂。Sasha Frere-Jones，這位擁有隨性、靈活力量的作家，放下了自我認知的幻覺，而是提供了一個記憶碎片的萬花筒，忠實於內外世界的混沌。《Earlier》既有趣、酷炫、原始、智慧，還隱含著崇高的秘密。」
《Earlier》始於2010年，應 Deborah Holmes 的要求完成，這本書是獻給她的。Holmes 是 Frere-Jones 兩個兒子 Sam 和 Jonah 的母親。她在2020年7月被診斷出胰臟癌，於2021年1月去世。《Earlier》是她讀過的最後一本書。Frere-Jones 說：「Deborah 是我見過的最熱情的讀者。她在不做其他事情的時候會讀書，這一點從未改變。1990年我們見面時，她請我寫這本書。我很抱歉讓她等了這麼久。」
Sasha Frere-Jones grew up in Fort Greene, Brooklyn. His play, We Three Kings, was recognized by the Young Playwrights Festival in 1983 and performed at The Public Theater. He completed a short film called The Take in 1986. His first band, Dolores, completed two albums in the Eighties, and he is a member of Ui, whose work is available through The Numero Group. Frere-Jones plays with Body Meπa, who record for Hausu Mountain, as well as Calvinist and Fellas. He has written about music and books since 1994, and lives in the East Village with his wife, Heidi DeRuiter.
薩莎·弗雷爾-瓊斯（Sasha Frere-Jones）在布魯克林的福特格林（Fort Greene）長大。他的劇作《我們三位國王》（We Three Kings）於1983年獲得青年劇作家節的認可，並在公共劇院（The Public Theater）上演。他於1986年完成了一部短片《奪取》（The Take）。他的第一支樂隊Dolores在八十年代發行了兩張專輯，他也是Ui的成員，該樂隊的作品由The Numero Group發行。弗雷爾-瓊斯與Body Meπa合作，該樂隊為Hausu Mountain錄音，還有Calvinist和Fellas。他自1994年以來一直撰寫有關音樂和書籍的文章，並與妻子海蒂·德魯伊特（Heidi DeRuiter）住在東村（East Village）。
