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Track-by-Track: Franki States the Facts on Her Debut EP ‘All The Things I Try to Say’

After the recent release of her debut EP ‘All The Things I Try to Say’ via Moo Sick Music, Franki joins us for a track-by-track rundown.

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Franki, photo by Long XI Vlessing
Franki, photo by Long XI Vlessing

With her new EP All The Things I Try to Say, Franki shows that you can have a good time while also exploring some weightier themes. The five-song debut was released in December via Moo Sick Music, featuring the single “Jeans.” As you can hear in this song, this is music to get pumped up to and bounce around. But it’s not just disposable dance music, a la the early 1990s dance music revolution. Franki is also focused on creating a message and that message centers around the importance of self-discovery. In many ways, she wrote this EP for herself to act as a reminder to tune out the external noise. The focus should be within, on yourself, and trusting your instincts to lead you in the proper direction.

You can learn and grow and do it while listening to bubbly synths, crushed UKG beats, and distorted textures. There’s no textbook when it comes to growth and finding yourself. As Franki shows, it’s whatever you want it to be based on what you are willing to put into it. As a musician, Franki is a do-it-yourself and do-it-all type. She’s the singer, songwriter, producer, and visual director of all that she does. She grew up in England, particularly inspired by the electronic music of the 2000s. She then decided to move to Montreal, a city where she felt she would fit in because of its vibrant indie-pop scene and its unique culture. Her music focused on the highs and lows of life, processed through intense and intoxicating synths.

Today, Franki joins us for a Track-by-Track rundown of All The Things I Try to Say, its key moments, and the inspirations behind each song.

1. “All the Things I Try to Say”

“The opening track was actually the last song I wrote for the EP. It has kind of a dual meaning, firstly being about someone you were once so close with and saw a future with. It is painful to move on from someone and accept the fact that, while you’re still worrying about them and clinging to hope, they are probably not thinking about you at all. It’s about rerunning through all of the interactions you had with this person and wishing you had said things differently, knowing that it probably wouldn’t have changed anything in the end. And then finally realizing that someone you thought you needed, you thought you knew becomes an old flame as you go about life without them. It’s not happy or sad, it just is the way that it is.

“Secondly, on a bigger scale, it is about trying to figure out how I want to communicate myself as both an artist and an individual. I’ve been through various phases with what I want to do as a musician and, even though I feel that my vision is clear on this album, I feel myself starting to shift into a new space again and I realize that I will probably always feel this way. Ultimately, I am searching for a way to connect to people and to myself, and music feels like the most real way of doing that right now. There are so many thoughts in my head that I will always have to exist with and putting them into words and music is a way of organizing things and helping me turn raw emotions into clearer, more understandable perspectives on the way I see the world.”

Franki ‘All The Things I Try to Say’ [EP} album artwork

Franki ‘All The Things I Try to Say’ [EP} album artwork

2. “Jeans”

“This was the first song I finished for the EP. I was listening to a lot of 90s dance music at the time, namely Ace of Base and Vengaboys. I found it kind of cheesy but so sugary and addictive, incredible, feel-good music. And that’s what I was striving for with this song, lyrics that make you feel sexy, a beat you can shake your hips to, and a synth that is so nostalgic for the music I grew up with.

“I was leaning a little more into the ethereal with the bridge and outro. I love making stuff that feels floaty and airy. There’s a lot of layers here; everything fades into a reverbed swarm of synths and overlapping vocals.”

3. “Act Clever”

“Basically everyone in Montreal is a DJ, except for like one or two people. I definitely have felt some pressure to become one and I played around with it a bit in the summer. Although I love doing it with my friends, sharing music and being really bad at it, it felt like I was just doing it to find some extra layer of validation, trying to be more ‘cool.’ This song is about that. Looking for your place in the world authentically and not giving into anyone’s expectations or beliefs about you.

“I wrote this song on the walk home from a friend’s house. We had been talking about our musical influences and the idea of creative integrity. It’s so important for art to remain a source of creative outlet and community, rather than letting it become another form of ‘content.’”

4. “I’m A Mess”

“It is kind of an overarching theme of the whole album, the idea of embracing your imperfections and flaws. All of the things I feel embarrassed about because they are ‘unclean’ or ‘bad’ are just normal things. Everyone has a whole list of things about themself they wish they could change. But really, it’s not about changing them, it’s about accepting them. You can go your whole life striving to be ‘perfect,’ but that looks different for everyone, and as soon as you achieve it, you’ll start picking apart new aspects of yourself. Some days, I go for a run, read a book, and eat a vegetable. Other days, I drink ten cups of coffee in my bed while doom-scrolling. That’s life, and it’s fine.”

5. “Head in The Clouds”

“The ‘punch line’ of this song, if you will, is ‘have fun.’ It’s about loud music and putting on a little black dress, losing yourself in the night. But it is also a song about how I see myself – head in the clouds. I have always been somewhat of an airy fairy, whimsical individual and I love that part of myself. But I feel like I often float through life up in the clouds, in my own little world. I’m realizing, as I get older, that it might actually be quite fun to stay more grounded.

“The bridge of this song has a fever dream-like quality, like you’ve been swept up in a bad trip and actually can’t get your head out of the clouds. There are sirens and alarms zooming past you and a distorted chant in the background. It’s a bit uncomfortable, a bit disorientating. That’s how it feels when you’re struggling to get out of your own head and back in touch with the real world.”

Born in 2003, V13 was a socio-political website that morphed into PureGrainAudio in 2005 and spent 15 years developing into one of Canada's (and the world’s) leading music sites. On the eve of the site’s 15th anniversary, a full relaunch and rebrand took us back to our roots and opened the door to a full suite of Music, Entertainment, and cultural content.

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