Setting the tone with a luxurious synth fused with vocal textures, Frances Hope opens her new single Stay with the enigmatic lyrics, “Yesterday, washing my hands of the price I pay, but today, I acted in vain…”
Frances Hope is a singer-songwriter, performer, poet, multi-instrumentalist and indie-folk artist from Victoria, BC. Her music is inspired by early Joni Mitchell and Lana Del Rey, which we can absolutely feel the energy of in this exquisite production.
Lyrical highlights include the profound “it was a game, wouldn’t have done it any other way”, the vulnerable “left me here before, broken and unsure”, and the emotive “here I lay, please meet me half way”.
Speaking on the themes of the track, Hope says, “It’s about love and a toxic relationship as an addiction, and how to find a way to leave and begin the healing process.”
We are in love with the build of the song, produced by Spencer Lillo, and emotional and refined vocal performance from Hope, the guitar development and rolling drums are reminiscent of Lana’s Ultraviolence era.
Frances Hope is an advocate for mental health, as her own struggles led her to begin songwriting to process and heal her own emotional wounds. She says that “universal themes of vulnerability, mental health and healing” have become her raisons d’être.
The rising artist was recently a contestant on Season 8 of a Canadian singing competition called The Shot: Remastered, and won a Battle of the Bands competition to take main stage at the Dragon Boat Festival in Victoria this past summer. She has released a debut EP album, and two self-created/mixed singles, and received second place in a global songwriting competition out of Nashville, TN.
Her music is an eclectic combination of sweetness and grit, and her sound has been characterized as “edgy ethereal” and “intimate and touching with subtle and emotional insight”.
We have been immersing ourselves in Frances Hope’s existing discography, including her songs Mistaken Identity, Recovery and Too Young, and Stay has been added to our New Music Spotlight playlist!