"I know the feeling I really do, the ground is sinking right under you..."
It is truly wonderful to hear bedroom / lo-fi pop singer songwriter JW Francis' reimagining of "John, Take Me With You" especially since I covered the original version from his smile inducing "Wanderkid" album that dropped back in October. Here is a small sample of what I wrote back on May 27th:
"John, Take Me With You" by New York based JW Francis, and from his eagerly anticipated 2nd album "Wanderkid" (due to drop October 1st 2021, via Sunday Best Recordings), is not one of those kind of songs that you review really, it is one of those kind of songs that you gleefully digest and feel much better for doing so. Sparkly guitars dance and frolic like raindrops bouncing off New York pavement while a drum beat chugs along quickly. Francis' vocal aesthetic is upfront and feels like a conversation with the upbeat neighbor, the cool guy who never gets that down, the one who smile and says good morning."
On his UK Edition / Version, the track is slowed down with bubbling low synth keys creating a sort of 80's fantasy new wave-esque tone. JW's vocal aesthetic even has more emotional gravitas as pearly ethereal melodies encircle and embrace you. What was formerly light and sparkly somehow feels a bit darker and wistful. All of the sudden, you feel the weight (and wait) of the words, things feel more mysterious, more wistful, more romantic and more torn. You want to know the back story and see it in all it's cinematic glory. Digging this.
-Robb Donker Curtius
* * *
THE FACTS AS WE KNOW THEM - PRESS NOTES:
https://www.facebook.com/JWFrancisthatsme/
https://jwfrancis.bandcamp.com/
https://www.instagram.com/jw__francis/
https://www.youtube.com/c/JWFrancis
https://soundcloud.com/jw_francis
WANDERKID is the sophomore album from New York’s next lo-fi legend JW Francis, and in an appropriately maverick move, will be released whilst its creator is in the middle of trekking 2000 miles along the Appalachian Trail in the US. The follow-up to JW’s critically acclaimed debut album We Share A Similar Joy, WANDERKID will be released on October 1 by Sunday Best Recordings (The Cure, David Lynch, dan le sac Vs Scroobius Pip, etc). Shortly after this, JW is set to leave the mountains of the Eastern United States and make his way over to New York for a show at Elsewhere on October 8 before heading to the UK for his first ever headline shows there.
His new single “John Take Me With You,” and its accompanying video, is wistful, upbeat and bursting with charisma, it is quintessential JW and sets the tone perfectly for an album that tells the story of a wandering anti-hero. As JW elaborates, “WANDERKID is an album about escape. It’s supposed to be a gut punch of a record about an anti-hero named WANDERKID who wants to get OUT: out of his living situation, out of his head, out of his life. This album is like looking out the car window with an urgent desire to be on the other side. It was finished during the most recent global pandemic, so hopefully folks find it relatable.”
With support for JW’s debut album flooding in from BBC Radio 6 Music, DIY Magazine, The Line of Best Fit, Wonderland, NME ,The Independent, HMV to name a few, JW is fast making a name for himself as one of the most exciting new artists around. Born in Oklahoma, JW landed in New York City at 19 to study Economics at Columbia University, but not before making stops, stays and stints in Vermont, aged 12 and Paris, aged 13. Whilst at Columbia, the troubadour started music blog Rare Candy and founded student-run recording studio CU Records. Musically, JW takes his lead from the greats of the Downtown scene - Patti Smith, The Velvet Underground, Television, Talking Heads, The Strokes, Yeah Yeah Yeahs - and is fast emerging at the forefront of the next generation of New York greats.
JW Francis, Bedroom / Lo-fi Pop, Singer Songwriter, Indie Folk, indie rock, jangle pop, New York, album, "WANDERKID", Sunday Beat Recordings, "John, Take Me With You" (UK Edition),
"John, Take Me With You" by New York based JW Francis, and from his eagerly anticipated 2nd album "Wanderkid" (due to drop October 1st 2021, via Sunday Best Recordings), is not one of those kind of songs that you review really, it is one of those kind of songs that you gleefully digest and feel much better for doing so. Sparkly guitars dance and frolic like raindrops bouncing off New York pavement while a drum beat chugs along quickly. Francis' vocal aesthetic is upfront and feels like a conversation with the upbeat neighbor, the cool guy who never gets that down, the one who smile and says good morning."
On his UK Edition / Version, the track is slowed down with bubbling low synth keys creating a sort of 80's fantasy new wave-esque tone. JW's vocal aesthetic even has more emotional gravitas as pearly ethereal melodies encircle and embrace you. What was formerly light and sparkly somehow feels a bit darker and wistful. All of the sudden, you feel the weight (and wait) of the words, things feel more mysterious, more wistful, more romantic and more torn. You want to know the back story and see it in all it's cinematic glory. Digging this.
-Robb Donker Curtius
* * *
THE FACTS AS WE KNOW THEM - PRESS NOTES:
https://www.facebook.com/JWFrancisthatsme/
https://jwfrancis.bandcamp.com/
https://www.instagram.com/jw__francis/
https://www.youtube.com/c/JWFrancis
https://soundcloud.com/jw_francis
WANDERKID is the sophomore album from New York’s next lo-fi legend JW Francis, and in an appropriately maverick move, will be released whilst its creator is in the middle of trekking 2000 miles along the Appalachian Trail in the US. The follow-up to JW’s critically acclaimed debut album We Share A Similar Joy, WANDERKID will be released on October 1 by Sunday Best Recordings (The Cure, David Lynch, dan le sac Vs Scroobius Pip, etc). Shortly after this, JW is set to leave the mountains of the Eastern United States and make his way over to New York for a show at Elsewhere on October 8 before heading to the UK for his first ever headline shows there.
His new single “John Take Me With You,” and its accompanying video, is wistful, upbeat and bursting with charisma, it is quintessential JW and sets the tone perfectly for an album that tells the story of a wandering anti-hero. As JW elaborates, “WANDERKID is an album about escape. It’s supposed to be a gut punch of a record about an anti-hero named WANDERKID who wants to get OUT: out of his living situation, out of his head, out of his life. This album is like looking out the car window with an urgent desire to be on the other side. It was finished during the most recent global pandemic, so hopefully folks find it relatable.”
With support for JW’s debut album flooding in from BBC Radio 6 Music, DIY Magazine, The Line of Best Fit, Wonderland, NME ,The Independent, HMV to name a few, JW is fast making a name for himself as one of the most exciting new artists around. Born in Oklahoma, JW landed in New York City at 19 to study Economics at Columbia University, but not before making stops, stays and stints in Vermont, aged 12 and Paris, aged 13. Whilst at Columbia, the troubadour started music blog Rare Candy and founded student-run recording studio CU Records. Musically, JW takes his lead from the greats of the Downtown scene - Patti Smith, The Velvet Underground, Television, Talking Heads, The Strokes, Yeah Yeah Yeahs - and is fast emerging at the forefront of the next generation of New York greats.
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