Kathleen Frances

“A spellbinding ode to young adulthood”, The i 

“Her mesmerising and somewhat beguiling baritone brings a dreamy quality to her words, her vowels sinking softly in between the piano chords”, Beats Per Minute

“It caresses the listener’s ears, it sinks deep beneath the skin and it really is something different”, NBHAP 

“There are great voices and then there are voices that stop you dead in the tracks. Kathleen Frances has one of those voices” The Revue, Artists to Watch 2022

Bristolian songwriter and producer Kathleen Frances has shared a devastatingly intimate new single ‘Boy’. She’s also announced a run of UK headline dates, and an appearance at this year’s The Great Escape. 

The third single to come from her forthcoming debut EP ‘Through The Blue’ (Mar 02), ‘Boy’ follows hot on the heels of Frances’ cover of Electric Youth and College’s ‘A Real Hero’ which was released as part of Secretly Canadian’s 25 year anniversary celebrations last month. Frances and Bright Eyes are the only artists outside of the Secretly Canadian roster to have taken part so far. 

Frances’ staggering baritone silenced crowds at Pitchfork Paris and her own sold out show at London’s Servant Jazz Quarters last winter. Her new single ‘Boy’, which comprises little more than a felted piano and that signature vocal, makes time stand still. 

Speaking about it, she said: “This one took me ages to write. I was really hurting from a breakup. I just wasn’t ready to go there. I had a few nice ideas but nothing that felt right. It was all too surface level. I had to find what I really felt about it deep down, underneath the feelings of betrayal and bruised ego. I had to figure out what I really wanted from this person now. 

“Things change, people change. It's sad but it’s also hopeful, it allows you to take stock and figure out what you really want. With this song, I was attempting to get the balance right between cathartic sadness and self assuredness.”

Produced with Bristol collaborator Benji Bowers and Ben Baptie (Moses Sumney, Little Simz, Leon Vynehall, Cleo), her forthcoming EP is about the uncertainty and lack of clarity that haunts our desperate search for purpose. The accompanying artwork and photography, which portrays the haunting quality of the EP, was created in collaboration with Kathleen’s twin sister Michaela Frances.

Speaking about the EP, she said: “Acceptance of uncertainty and learning to almost enjoy it was a big shift for me when writing this EP. I am totally uncertain most of the time but I’m okay with that. Uncertainty actually takes the heat off life a bit. Take it as it comes because really, who the fuck knows?”