Track by Track – Frankie Rose on Herein Wild

Whether as part of Crystal Stilts, Dum Dum Girls, Vivian Girls, or on her somewhat stellar Interstellar record last year, Frankie Rose has a canny knack for gracing anything she touches with her rich, blissful pop inclinations. Ahead of her latest album, Herein Wild, we’re chuffed to bring you an exclusive track-by-track run-down of the record, penned by Rose’s very own hand.

“You For Me”

You For Me is a ‘love song’. Mind you – I have never used the word ‘love’ in a lyric. This is the first song I recorded in the studio for Herein Wild, and after it was finished I knew it was the introduction to the album. It when only when it was written I realized that I had never written a ‘love song’ before. It’s a slow burner that ends with a bang.

“Sorrow”

I wanted to put real strings on this song, so I rented a church in mid-town Manhattan, and hired a string quartet and an arranger. There is no synth on the planet that can replace the feeling of real strings on a recording. I feel very lucky that I was able to do this and although it was quite a big set-up, it was worth it for 3 minutes of great music.

“The Depths”

The Depths was a puzzle for me. This song had the most revisions of all the songs on the record. I knew that I wanted a classic Cure “Hanging Garden” feel about the drums, but every time I tried something new it was a little weird or sounded corny. Some of the first versions crept into an Einstürzende Neubauten arena, which felt weird/bad, so I decided to scale back on the factory sounds. Eventually I decided – ‘less is more’.

“Cliffs As High”

It’s the most cinematic song on the album. This song is emotional and it was sad to make. When I recorded it, I thought about minimalist composer Arvo Part and how powerful nothingness can be in a song – how compositions with almost nothing happening can be the most emotional thing you have ever heard. “Cliffs As High” was sat with nothing but synth pads until the last days of recording, and it sounded like “Vangelis” – straight out of Blade Runner. When we finally filled in the strings it all made sense to me, it feels like the saddest dream I ever had.

“Minor Times”

Minor Times is my favorite song on the record. I wanted this song to be like one long moving dream, with multiple melodies overlapping at all times. At any given moment there are two melodies happening at once. The inspiration is Elisabeth Fraser meets Stereolab. It started as a straightforward clean sounding pop song, but in the scheme of the album it made more sense to give it a dreamlike feel. I have wanted to write about dreams before. I have incredibly vivid dreams almost every night; so much so that sometimes I cant tell if I’ve slept at all.

Question Reason

This is my favorite song to play live. It’s a pretty straightforward pop song, which was the vision I had for it in the demo. My favorite part of the song is the insane bass walkup in the bridge. Sometimes a walk down or up a scale in a song can be the most brilliant thing. It sounds almost too simple but it works! I use china crash cymbals on this song, which I know can be a polarizing moment, but I LOVE them so much.

“Heaven”

Heaven was puzzle number two of the record. I must have changed the drums on the song 10 times. The early versions sounded like something straight out of Game of Thrones. This is the most guitar heavy song on the record, which was a big choice for me because I was not sure that I wanted guitars on the record at all. I thought a lot about the live show while making Herein Wild. Interstellar was such a difficult album to play live. The sounds were so lush and sensitive that it was a challenge to recreate it in a live setting. I wanted to make a record that had some of the qualities of Interstellar but were actually playable live and fun for an audience.

“Street Of Dreams”

This is a Damned cover. The moment I heard it I knew I had to do my own version – although I love the original I think it was begging to be updated. I always pick my covers by choosing songs I wish I had written. It’s spooky and it has an incredible chorus with tons of room for putting my own spin on it. The guitars in the beginning were a happy accident when I put two un-muted guitar lines together. I was trying to choose between the two, but instead I just chose both.

“Requiem”

This song is different then all the others on the record – it is less of a song and more of a lullaby. I tried a few things on this song but opted for simplicity – a single guitar and trumpet running through a space echo. This is the album outro as much as the first song is an introduction. It is my “goodbye for now”.

You can listen to the record for yourself through the above stream. Herein Wild is released on the 7 October, through Fat Possum. Rose is hitting the road in support of the record at the following dates:

December
2 – Sheffield, The Harley
3 – Newcastle, Academy *
4 – Glasgow, ABC *
5 – Leeds, Brudenell Social Club
6 – Manchester, Academy *
7 – Nottingham, Rock City *
8 – Bristol, Academy *
9 – Brighton, Prince Albert
10 – London, Roundhouse *
11 – London, Roundhouse *
12 – Bristol, Start the Bus
13 – London, The Lexington
14 – Norwich, UEA *
15 – Brimingham, Institute *

* supporting White Lies