FEATURE:
Spotlight
Fran Lobo
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NOT only is Fran Lobo…
PHOTO CREDIT: Jack Van Giap
one of the most impressive and must-hear artists coming through at the moment. Her debut album – 2021’s Brave was her debut E.P. –, Burning It Feels Like, is one of the finest of 2023. This year so far has been a magnificent one for debut albums. Prior to getting to a review of that album, there are a few interviews I want to bring in. Before that, here is some background about the East London artist:
“Fran Lobo is a singer, songwriter, producer, choral composer and sound artist from London. Her work is centred around the importance of having a voice and enabling others to doing the same through her creative and facilitation work. Her work has been shown at the V&A, Southbank Centre and Somerset House and has been critically acclaimed by publications such as DAZED, i-D and The Guardian. From DAZED: ‘FRAN LOBO is one of a kind. The London-based singer songwriter is currently carving out a niche of her own, creating music that all at once manages to be ethereal, empowering and perfect for a sing-along, and conjuring up comparisons to artists as diverse as PJ Harvey, Grimes and Rage Against the Machine’. In 2017, Matthew Herbert asked Lobo to support him at his show at the Barbican. Whilst rehearsing for the show, she jammed out this song in a rehearsal room in Peckham, layering and looping her voice, improvising synth lines and a vocal melody. It came together in 20 mins. It is a favourite for her to perform live because it feels raw, urgent and different each time. After recording it in her bedroom in South London, the track has been slowly built upon with Bruno Ellingham in Massive Attack's Bristol studio as well as at Devon Analogue Studio and Press Play Studios in Bermondsey with Stereolab's Andy Ramsay”.
I will get to some more in-depth and long-form interviews. Here, Fred Perry asked some quickfire questions. Fran Lobo’s musical inspirations and tastes are really interesting. It is hard to hear clear influences in her music, but it is clear that she is influenced by a wide array of sounds and artists. This comes through in her spectacular debut album, Burning It Feels Like:
“Name, where are you from?
Fran Lobo, East London.
Describe your style in three words?
Whatever I find.
What’s the best gig you’ve ever been to?
The Prodigy, Lowlands Festival 2008. It felt like the pit of hell, and it was completely enveloping. The energy from Keith Flint and the rest of the band together with the set and the lighting was out of this world.
If you could be on the line up with any two artists in history?
Kate Bush and David Bowie. Two absolute legends. It would be amazing to be on such a theatrical and mesmeric lineup. Fabulous songwriters and vocalists. We could all perform a dance montage.
Which subcultures have influenced you?
Garage (2-step rhythms and MC's), punk (scratch/DIY/no rules attitude), dubstep (hip shattering bass and groove) and nu-metal (soulful noise).
If you could spend an hour with anyone from history?
Freddie Mercury. To hear all of his crazy stories and to connect with his upbringing in India.
Of all the venues you’ve been to or played, which is your favourite?
Servant Jazz Quarters, Dalston. Such an intimate, soulful space with an incredibly passionate and creative team.
Your greatest unsung hero or heroine in music?
I adore the band Smerz from Copenhagen. They should be a lot more well known and celebrated than they are. Two women producing and performing together, music with no rules and with a really strong identity.
The first track you played on repeat?
'Never Ever' by All Saints.
A song that defines the teenage you?
'Teenage Dirtbag' by Wheatus”.
I want to bring in an interview from earlier in the year. Loud and Quiet spoke with Fran Lobo about her career so far, in addition to her (then) forthcoming album. Even though she is not brand-new on the scene, her debut album has definitely put her in many people’s sights. A fascinating artist we are going to hear a lot more from:
“In 2015, she released her first EP, Beautiful Blood, and has been putting music out ever since: at first a slew of self-releases, then two more EPs through tastemaking London label Slow Dance in 2020 and 2021, before being tapped by Heavenly. Her output through the years has been varied in genre, but defined by a unique approach to production, creating bold soundscapes that underpin often quite vulnerable lyrics. “Sometimes when I listen back I think, ‘Oh, poor little Franny’, ’cos every track is like struggling, struggling, struggling… I don’t think I’m doing it intentionally, I’m not like, ‘I’m going to make music that’s dark,’ it’s just how it comes out. But I think what I try to do a lot with the production is bring it into a different world.”
She still works as an educator, but now does so in a musical context, working to facilitate music workshops and classes for young people as well as adults with cognitive issues such as aphasia or dementia. It’s more than just a side hustle.
“It feeds me a lot actually,” she says. “It’s nice, because that’s the essence of what music is. We’re working with groups that are making music to express themselves, it’s the purest way of making music – that’s been nice to come back to this week, to get away from the music release world.”
PHOTO CREDIT: Gem Harris
I’m reminded of a similar sentiment Lobo expressed earlier in our chat, talking about singing with Chua and Groves, and how working on stuff outside of their artist projects allows them to top up “the good juice. Trying to navigate the industry side of things can get really draining. The joy of making music – it’s not about promoting yourself, it’s about making noise, communicating with each other.”
Despite her acknowledgement of the challenging aspects of commercially releasing music, Fran Lobo is unashamedly ambitious. An album is currently in the works. “It’s always been a goal to see my record in the shops,” she tells me. “My dream when I was a young kid was: I want to be in a band, and I want to have a little van and we just go on tour. That’s my life, and even if I don’t have much money I’m living my dream.”
Her dream goes well beyond straightforward album campaigns. In the past, Lobo has worked on installations: her piece Voicescolourmotion, a sound and light installation created with the artist Gawain Hewitt, was shown at the V&A and Snapes Maltings in 2019. The piece was a meditation on losing her voice a few years earlier, from pushing herself too hard.
PHOTO CREDIT: Gem Harris
“I was leading two choirs, doing lots of teaching and workshops, and doing gigs all at the same time. And going out all the time,” she recalls, telling me she’d like to make more such work. “In an ideal world when I put out a project, I wanna have a launch show where there are installations and visual art as part of it.”
Another aspiration is to make her own films; she directed the video for ‘All I Want’, as well as doing all her own styling, which she describes as a “crazy experience”. The result is an impressive short which is as much early-2000s MTV as it is gothic thriller – Lobo lists Dario Argento and the Coen Brothers’ Macbeth as influences alongside Madonna, Kate Bush and Björk. Like the track itself, the video takes a drastic turn at the last minute. After four minutes of sultry, eerie balladeering, Lobo cackles and the beat speeds up drastically, turning the song on its head completely for the remaining 40 seconds, as the camera spins and the lighting turns blood red.
This element of surprise and expecting the unexpected is a theme in Lobo’s work, which has never been easy to categorise or define by genre. “I like things where you’re throwing paint at something, it should never be like, ‘This is the song,’” she says with a glint of mischief in her eye. “I like challenging what you think the song should be – I’m not going to do what you think I’m going to do”.
I will end with NME’s take on Fran Lobo’s Burning It Feels Like soon. Prior, I want to drop in a great chat between METAL and the London wonder. I am going to be fascinated to see where she heads next. With an album out there in the world, there is a lot of demand and interest around Fran Lobo. Long may that continue:
“Emphasising community and natural production, Lobo manages to craft a personal treatise through her work, unafraid of difficult themes, her music gives way to emotion, embodying it in a way that is raw and powerful. While her early work brought media acclaim from outlets such as Dazed, The Fader, The Guardian, and BBC Radio 1, Burning It Feels Like is sure to turn heads as her debut album, arriving three years after her last EP. Teased through early singles Tricks and All I Want, accompanied by their respective woozy and aesthetic music videos, it is set to be a deeply personal and poignant release for Lobo.
Honing in on the concept of ‘love addiction,’ the feeling of being enveloped in a heated connection with another person and the highs and lows associated with being hooked on someone in such a way, Lobo picks apart the personal and lays herself bare. Entirely written and produced by Lobo, Burning It Feels Like is an exciting next step for the uncompromising artist.
Hi there Fran, thank you so much for your time. Super excited to listen to your debut album, I read that the inspiration for the title came from a therapy session. This obviously hints at the personal nature of your work, what strengths do you find in being vulnerable?
Hey, thank you! The inspiration for the album title came from the practice of recognising and locating feelings and sensations in the body and sitting with them to understand them – letting them be present and then noticing when they are triggered and when they pass. The title hints at feelings of anxiety, hurt, and addiction as well as a whole host of other feelings which can’t necessarily be named. I wanted the listener to interpret it in their own way.
I feel things very deeply, so showing my vulnerability and being able to express that in my music is my way of processing and expressing these emotions and learning more about myself along the way. I feel that music in essence is an act of vulnerability, pure release and expression, which is a strength as well as a gift.
You did your own production for the album, alongside Andy Ramsay of Stereolab as engineer. What was this process like?
I wrote and produced my album, bringing in trusted collaborators to help bring the vision to life, offer their interpretations and ideas as well as to keep me company during the journey as it gets a little lonely working by yourself and I love being around people in the studio.
I worked with Andy and Jimmy Robertson on my EP Brave, which was released on Slowdance Records in 2021. They both engineered and Jimmy mixed the record. I really enjoyed working with them, so I decided to get them on board for the album too as well as pulling in my earliest collaborator on this project, Pascal Bideau (Akusmi) and composer/producer, Sam Beste (The Vernon Spring) to contribute layers, ideas, co-engineer and co-produce. They are not all on every track, but I brought them in to offer specific things on various pieces. Jimmy Robertson mixed the entire record – he is a very special person and my ride-or-die in the studio!
The process of making this record was quite lengthy. The main task was reimagining and re-producing older songs to fit with the general vision of the newer material. In a sense, this debut record was also a deep process of finding my voice in the fullest way, which was at times a solitary journey working late in the studio on my own, eating hula hoops and trying things, getting stuck, taking long breaks between working and then trying to work things out almost like a puzzle either solo or bringing in other musicians to try ideas and then organising and arranging it all in the mixing process.
The album is set to be released on Heavenly recordings, what drew you to this label?
The main thing that drew me to Heavenly was the trust and openness they had with me from the beginning. There was no ‘let us know what happens and keep us in the loop… we are interested.’ It was more ‘We love what you do and we want to work with you’ straight after the first meeting! I was taken aback by their belief and passion and the fact that they are really nice and warm people. They don’t feel like ‘music industry’ and they let me get on with my work in my own way.
Initially, you were more drawn to performance rather than writing lyrics, what eventually sparked your transition to writing?
Being drawn to writing was a natural progression from performance as I felt it was a fuller way of telling my story. Growing up, I performed in musicals and loved the theatre, but looking around, everyone looked the same and you had to have a certain look and even personality to fit into these crowds. I was just like, I’m different, I want to say something! And in order to do that I should write my own music.
As a teenager walking around with headphones on at all times, I fell in love with a boy in my theatre group and I wrote my first song, Jamie. I asked my music teacher to help me scribe parts for clarinet and violin and I performed the song on the piano as part of my first-ever gig at the school music concert in Year 10. After that, I was like this is pretty great, I want to keep doing this.
Having overcome a traumatic experience within the music industry, to now be releasing your debut on your own terms is a powerful journey. How did you manage to bridge these experiences?
Support from friends and turning to music to release my emotions has always been a powerful tool for me and having a strong musical community, cultivating relationships with fellow musicians and close friends such as Lucinda Chua and Laura Groves has helped me feel uplifted and loved. My label, Heavenly, has also been very supportive and nurturing to me, letting me do things in my own time.
You are in some ways a performer before you are a musician. Does your work as an artist who works with installations feel disparate from your work as a singer and songwriter?
All the work that I do is intrinsically linked. The goal is always to express and show vulnerability and to learn about myself. I am very interested in the human voice and in sound design for example, and this comes across in all the work that I have done whether installation, films or music. During the process of making this album I have worked with movement directors and dancers, which is something I have always wanted to do and that I will take forward now across many things I will make.
What are you looking forward to in the coming months, and how do you plan on celebrating the release of your debut?
In the coming months, I’m really looking forward to finishing the final music video, having the album out, and enjoying the summer with my friends. I’m excited about getting back to the studio and doing more music with friends. To celebrate the release, I will be doing a show at Laylow with all my friends as well as celebrating in my own private way with those closest to me”.
There have been positive reviews around Fran Lobo’s Burning It Feels Like. NME were especially impressed and enamoured of an artist who has released a hugely strong debut. There is a lot of emotion in the songs. Lobo keeps everything in her control. Arresting listening from start to finish:
“The title of ‘Burning, It Feels Like’ – Fran Lobo’s debut album – came from a therapy session in which she explained how it feels to be infatuated with someone new. She and her therapist were exploring what she calls “love addiction”; constantly obsessing, idealising, getting lost in fantasy, and inevitably ending up crushed. Across this album, the London singer-songwriter paints that feeling as equal parts intoxicating and dark, using her multifaceted art-pop to sonically illustrate the chaos.
These songs are constantly shifting and often unsettling. Alongside glitchy, skitterish electronics, Lobo uses orchestral elements – strings, brass, choral vocals – to subtly create friction. Elements are often introduced in brief bursts. Listen to ‘Slowly’, a song composed lyrically of real text messages from a past relationship; the violins fade in and out, ambient backing vocals swirl – all serving to envelop and overwhelm the listener.
Lobo often uses the musical directions of the songs cleverly. On the title track, what starts as a piano ballad diverts into a swell of fairytale Hollywood harp flourishes and strings, like those that would accompany a lovestruck Disney princess — but the violins are unsettling and mournful. This fairytale isn’t quite right, it suggests. Then, the song unfolds into something Motown-esque. The words she sings, addressed to a lover, are heartfelt and full of yearning (“I only, only, only wanted you / You’re everywhere, you’re everywhere I go”); yet interspersed with this refrain, a backing choir sings as if they’re addressing Lobo: “Wake up, wake up, little darling.”
Elsewhere, ‘All I Want’ is glitchy and sultry most of the way through, yet at the end, it becomes clubby and confident – the contrast works well to raise the stakes. The song embraces the mess of a toxic situation, giving into the fun that lies in that danger. It’s proof that ‘Burning, It Feels Like’ is three-dimensional; while the title may have been born in a therapist’s office, listening to the album doesn’t feel like being in one.
These tracks are album highlights, as is ‘Armour’, the record’s catchiest song, an agile yet gritty exploration of self-worth which descends into a breakdown of breathless vocals and frenzied saxophones. The songs here aren’t just captivating in their arrangement, but elevated too by Lobo’s skill as a performer – her vocals are alive and expressive. She exudes catharsis but is always in control”.
If you have not discovered Fran Lobo’s music, I would suggest you check it out. She is an incredible artist who I feel will keep on releasing such interesting and instantly memorable music. With the backing of stations like BBC Radio 6 Music, here is someone who has already won the ear of influential broadcasters and listeners. Her distinct sound separates her from a lot of same-sounding newcomers. It is evident that Fran Lobo is someone that…
EVERYONE needs to hear.
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