Robert Francis
"Robert Francis has been crafting burnished folk poesy since he was a teenager. He’s negotiated turbulent times, both personal and professional, without losing the distinctive voice and lyrical dexterity that have made his four full-lengths so compelling. In fact, those negotiations seem ongoing, as they tend to be, and they have yielded the songs on “Fire Engine Red,” his fifth album, due May 13. It’s the result of a creative burst inspired by Francis’ escaping his native Los Angeles.
“While recording in L.A., a writer for Vice Magazine, Aldo Monterrubio, flew out to interview me about the ups and downs of the music industry,” the 28-year-old songwriter explains. “We spoke mostly about the struggle and maintenance that is required of artists to continue to create in a climate that is usually not in our favor. Being in Los Angeles at this time had me uninspired. Aldo suggested I come to León, Mexico, and so I did. Recording in León felt more like the Deep South than the South does today. This was Muscle Shoals. There was no tourism, no musical history, nothing but a city of stucco houses, corrugated steel roofs, thunderstorms and 10 cent beers. As I began to spend more time in León, I couldn’t help but be affected by the culture. I started writing more songs. This time instead of writing for ‘myself,’ I started writing ‘out of myself’ for other people.”
If “Fire Engine Red” sounds like the songwriter’s most outward-looking collection of songs yet, it’s probably a reaction to these turbulent times — the world’s more than his — to which he bears witness.
Says Francis: “We are living in an incongruous era. Pop music is bigger than ever. Our voting system is rigged. A billionaire promoting violence can be president. The oldest cities on earth are being leveled. This is a warm record and I wanted it to feel like somewhere you can escape to when everything else is too much.” - Buzzbands.la
RIYL: John Hiatt, Jeff Buckley, Langhorne Slim, Conor Oberst, Devendra Banhart
TRY: #1, 3, 4, 8
Download full album here:
https://www.piratepirate.com/downloads/
More Info Here:
http://www.robertfrancismusic.com
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http://www.aeronautrecords.com