"sandcastles every day / built again then washed away / when all came and passed through / i never knew what i meant to you..."
The folk indie jazz dipped cosmic country beauty of "Falling From and Further", by vocalist / guitarist / composer / dancer / poet Hannah Frances, effortlessly shape shifts while holding you close to it's stories and dances. Against expressive acoustic guitar shapes, electric guitar twangs, nimble bass /drum rhythms and Frances's complex vocal countenance, the song takes you on a heady trip. I am so appreciating the seemingly improvisational scope, the way the song has runaway moments that almost sprint like cajun country or zydeco but not quite, but rather, filtered through a kind of jazz ID artistry.
Back to Frances' vocals, her style feels sort of 70's folk classic, maybe a cultured blend of a Joni Mitchell and Joan Baez (or thereabouts) and her voice is bathed not only in vulnerability but comfort as well. The added free form jazz spice added by swirling sax and clarinet is a crucial part of this folk jazz cosmic country tropicalia. Truly lovely moving and artistically captivating stuff indeed.
This passages stick with me and the way Frances accentuates the words, lengthens them to their last breath is beautiful.
"in diminishment
the wake of a lacking trust
breathe the breakage
fast and let it last to
feel it all
feel it all"
the wake of a lacking trust
breathe the breakage
fast and let it last to
feel it all
feel it all"
AND
"in the blinding lights on the highway
i merge where it hurtsshoulders narrow guiding
brevity of the turning
the fear of everyone leaving
keeps me leaving first,
when my world grows smaller
falling from and further toward to
feel it all
feel it all"
Speaking of accentuating, the Official Video for "Falling From and Further", helmed by Frances adds to the experience of the song.
Frances adds,“This video is my first experience directing and editing! I worked with my friends and collaborators Derrick Alexander as DP and Vanessa Castro as colorist. ‘Falling From and Further’ is about fear of abandonment and the subsequent push and pull of attachment, and I wanted to visually encapsulate that juxtaposition of intimacy as well as illuminate the retrospective nature of my writing. To represent my present awareness I had my band perform, and had my friend Av Grannan as the embodiment of my past. She and I did contact improvisation, working with and conveying the experiences of oscillation, mistrust, interdependence, isolation, security, holding, and releasing. It was very cathartic and joyful.”
LINER NOTES (excerpted / bracketed):
LINER NOTES (excerpted / bracketed):
[Hannah Frances is “an inventive instrumentalist [who] sets a propulsive, outlaw country-tinged guitar riff galloping under her rich, sailing vocals” (Slant, The 50 Best Songs of 2024). Today, Frances unveils her new single/video, “Falling From and Further” — marking Frances’ first new composition following her breakthrough 2024 album, Keeper of the Shepherd — and expanded summer tour dates. Awarded Pitchfork’s Best New Music, Keeper of the Shepherd received a wealth of praise for its ornate arrangements, cutting lyricism, and incisive finger-picking performed by Frances. “Falling From and Further” wastes no time, picking up where Keeper finished and cutting deep to the core. “The fear of everyone leaving keeps me leaving first,” Frances belts atop free-jazz layers of saxophone, clarinet, and propulsive percussion.]
[“I feel so elated and proud to share ‘Falling From and Further.’ It is a door into my next musical chapter, achieving the poignant vulnerability, grounded whimsy, and measured experimentalism that I strive for in my work,” Frances says of the release. “This song was a breakthrough for me in contending with the roots of my relational past, and holding space for the fragmented parts of me that are learning to trust through fear of abandonment.”]
[“I feel so elated and proud to share ‘Falling From and Further.’ It is a door into my next musical chapter, achieving the poignant vulnerability, grounded whimsy, and measured experimentalism that I strive for in my work,” Frances says of the release. “This song was a breakthrough for me in contending with the roots of my relational past, and holding space for the fragmented parts of me that are learning to trust through fear of abandonment.”]
Love this and listening on repeat.
-Robb Donker Curtius
https://www.tiktok.com/@hannahfrancesmusic
Hannah Frances (b. 1997) is a vocalist, guitarist, composer, dancer and poet. Her work is centered at the intersection of grief and nature, exploring the pathways of healing through cathartic process and land connection. NPR's Ann Powers calls Frances a stunning vocalist and songwriter, making monumental and mythic freak folk, and she was awarded Pitchfork's Best New Music for her triumphant new album Keeper of the Shepherd, as well as nods for Best Albums of 2024 from Pitchfork, Paste Magazine, and Bandcamp, and a full feature in the Chicago Tribune. A classically trained vocalist and self-taught guitarist with virtuosic dynamism, there is no singular way Hannah grips us with her complex open-tuned guitar work and storytelling. Through profoundly cutting lyricism, masterful fingerpicked polyrhythms, and a colossal voice, Frances’ unorthodox sound melds avant-folk, progressive rock, and jazz. A persistent troubadour, Frances lives in Vermont with roots in Chicago, though she is most often touring internationally and nationally, opening for artists such as Robin Pecknold of Fleet Foxes, Hurray for the Riff Raff, The Weather Station, Hiss Golden Messenger, Billie Marten, Whitney, and Damien Jurado, among others. Whether performing as a solo act or leading her full seven-piece ensemble, her mythology spellbinds with an insistent gravity.
Hannah Frances (b. 1997) is a vocalist, guitarist, composer, dancer and poet. Her work is centered at the intersection of grief and nature, exploring the pathways of healing through cathartic process and land connection. NPR's Ann Powers calls Frances a stunning vocalist and songwriter, making monumental and mythic freak folk, and she was awarded Pitchfork's Best New Music for her triumphant new album Keeper of the Shepherd, as well as nods for Best Albums of 2024 from Pitchfork, Paste Magazine, and Bandcamp, and a full feature in the Chicago Tribune. A classically trained vocalist and self-taught guitarist with virtuosic dynamism, there is no singular way Hannah grips us with her complex open-tuned guitar work and storytelling. Through profoundly cutting lyricism, masterful fingerpicked polyrhythms, and a colossal voice, Frances’ unorthodox sound melds avant-folk, progressive rock, and jazz. A persistent troubadour, Frances lives in Vermont with roots in Chicago, though she is most often touring internationally and nationally, opening for artists such as Robin Pecknold of Fleet Foxes, Hurray for the Riff Raff, The Weather Station, Hiss Golden Messenger, Billie Marten, Whitney, and Damien Jurado, among others. Whether performing as a solo act or leading her full seven-piece ensemble, her mythology spellbinds with an insistent gravity.
Hannah Frances, singer songwriter, composer, poet, dancer, artist, folk, blendo music, jazz folk, twang pop, psychedelia, cosmic country, indie, ID improvisational style, "Falling From and Further" (Official Video),
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