WEEK OF 11/29/2019

Fran / 📷 : Tina Mead

Walking over from the Red Line is part of my ritual of going to The Hideout. Especially on a cold dark Saturday night. It is just far enough that when those strings of lights come into view, I can’t help but smile. My people are close at hand. Usually I’m there early enough that there are just a few people, but for Fran, even before the doors were open, it was cozy warm from the bodies packed into the bar. Everyone was there to celebrate and catch up. 

The show started with Mia Joy singing to the crowd in a husky whisper, “I am not a freak…” A slow lazy dreamlike beat kept the energy at a slow sway as she made her way through the set. Every song or so she was joined by a new person, until there were five people on the stage. The highlight of the set was “10,000.” As she said, she was speaking from the heart as she sang “I should be doing, ten thousand things, but I’m not...I’m thinking about your mouth.” The addition of Jess Shoman’s (aka Tenci) soaring backup vocals rounded out Mia’s lower register, and the drive of the song as it built evoked an undeniable passion.

Chris Colson’s voice took us straight into “Blue Deja Vu” with a lonesome kind of feeling that is central to Tobacco City. Lexi Goddard’s shared lead vocals with chick. Her tone was both sweetness and sad. Strong and clear on its own. The way it paired with Colson’s deep melancholy, it gave me wistful heartache. Happiness is fleeting. Even the good things in life were bracketed by cynicism. “Love you like a dog loves a dead bird” has got to be one of the best lines ever written. The ambiguity sidesteps the question as skillfully as a two-stepper navigating a crowded dance floor. The whole band had the looseness a proper country shuffle requires. Josh Condon’s uptempo rolling drum announced a honky tonky number that elicited hoots from the audience. “AA Blues” showcased that they can be just as soulful when they pick up the pace. Their anti-imperialism song, “Buffalo” had a really yummy beat, and Nick Usalis did some fancy pick work on the pedal steel, giving the music some quick flipping flourishes I really dug. I hope for a full album from these guys at some point, but in the meantime get out and support them! Buy one of their brilliant t-shirts. Just ignore the wrinkles, they wash up real well. 

After two weeks on tour, there was a sense of relief rolling around the room as Fran took the stage here in their hometown of Chicago. Centered around Maria Jacobson’s voice. Her creative expression and her somersaulting vocals. It felt a proper release show when they kicked off with the first three tracks of the album in order. I couldn’t have been happier. Building out from the core five piece band, The Hideout stage was graced with a plethora of Chicago musicians topping out at nine musicians. The additional vocals by Lexi Goddard and Kelsey Wild for “I Know” were simple, but truly felt to be swirling around me. They brought a lushness to the music. The album was leaping to life. Realized in such passion, it felt fresh. The music’s underlying influences ranged all over rock. Grunge, folk, psych and a touch of country with “I’ve Moved On,” which was my favorite track on the album. I was pleased to find that I wasn’t the only person singing along. I’d gauge it as the audience favorite as well. It is a torch song that cuts to the core, in large part due to Jacobson’s incredible range. Each time she started a song I felt that happy anticipation of hearing her soar. The clarity and strength at those highest notes, even after two weeks of touring, was remarkable. She closed out the set with a full stage and the song “Desert Wanderer” As she took off her guitar and people filtered off the stage, Jacobson looked completely spent. But the audience called out for more, and she finally gave in. And it was during “In Between” that true joy and release came out in the performance. She let go and threw herself into the music. Among a show that had so many shiver inducing beautiful moments, that feeling was perfection.  

-Tina Mead