FRAN & FL0RA
ALBUM: PRECIOUS COLLECTION
FORMAT: LIMITED EDITION 12'“ vinyl LP, CD & DIGITAL DOWNLOAD
BUY: https://franflora.bandcamp.com/album/precious-collection
Following their critically acclaimed 2019 debut album Unfurl, Hidden Notes Records are happy to announce the release of the multi-award-nominated experimental/contemporary folk string duo Fran & Flora’s sophomore full-length album, Precious Collection.
Released on Friday 12th April 2024, this album, produced by the duo themselves, explodes in myriad directions expressing the richness of the long-standing collaboration between Francesca Ter-Berg (cello/vocals/electronics) and Flora Curzon (violin/vocals/electronics). With Klezmer and Yiddish song as the predominant inspiration for the record, Precious Collection defies convention, featuring self-penned tunes and unique arrangements pushing their ground-breaking project beyond their virtuosic string playing. Drummers Ursula Russell (Ursa Major Moving Group, Alabaster DePlume) and Simon Roth (Chris Potter, Alice Zawadzki, Adrian Dunbar) feature on the record on full kit and Ukrainian Poik (marching drum) respectively, and Francesca and Flora experiment with bowed cymbals, extended piano techniques, and samples of found sounds.The album was recorded in three different locations - Total Refreshment Centre (London), Big Jelly Studios (Ramsgate) and Great North Sound Society (Maine, USA).
The album features artwork by Lily Buchanan - a painter whose works lie in a twilight space – one foot in this world and one in another, one in the past and one in the present –drawn from memories, emotions and folklore of the everyday. Desire is a central theme, which Lily explores through surreal situations. These are by turns tender, brutal, humorous and melancholic. Happiness hand and hand with a shadow of destruction. Objects are charged with symbolism. Her characters hold tight to a world that shakes and spins, where grenade-like hearts, ring pulls and leaden roses fall to the ground. “I’ve loved working on Fran & Flora’s Precious Collection so much. The music conjured up so many visual landscapes for me to draw from in my mind and transported me on this mind expanding journey through wild woodlands and valleys meeting fantastical characters along the way. The main subject for the album artwork is Tree Girl who - captured mid metamorphosis- seems so at home in their wondrous sonic landscapes.“
The music of Fran & Flora sits in two camps, both steeped in tradition, with material drawn directly from archival recordings, recovered manuscripts and years of study with traditional music masters, whilst simultaneously garnering a contemporary and avant-garde aesthetic, speaking to the more classical and experimental listener. Fran & Flora inject their source material with drones, loops, free improvisation and electronics to create a ‘border-defying’ (Mojo) sound. Their influences range across a wide spectrum of artists and composers from Silver Mt.Zion to Rhiannon Giddens, Lankum, Brìghde Chaimbeul, Colin Stetson, Adrienne Lenker, Shabaka Hutchings and Mica Levi.
As string players Fran & Flora’s collaborations together and separately includes performing with the likes of Tom Skinner, Portico Quartet, Imogen Heap, Riz Ahmed, Sam Lee, Talvin Singh, Jocelyn Pook, Hannah Peel and The Vernon Spring. Within the global Klezmer community they have worked with Zoe Aqua, London Klezmer Quartet, Sashe Lurje, Craig Judelman, Merlin & Polina Shepherd and Frank London, and have taught at Klezmer music camps including at Klezfest London, contributing to ongoing research and revival work.
Their debut, self-released album Unfurl (“An album of beguiling beauty” The Wire, “Remarkable” Songlines) was released in February 2019 to critical acclaim (BBC Radio 3 Music Planet ‘Album of the Year’/Amazon ‘Best Seller’/AIM Award ‘Best New Act’). In June 2020 a 5-track remix EP was released celebrating its tracks, championed by Mary-Anne Hobbs on BBC Radio 6 Music. Remix artists included Portico Quartet and Deep Throat Choir.
They have appeared live in session on Giles Peterson’s WorldWide FM, BBC 6 Music with Cerys Matthews, BBC Radio 4 Woman’s Hour, Soho Radio and were nominated for ‘Best Live Act’ by the AIM Independent Music Awards and Songlines Music Awards.
Known for their dynamic live performances, the duo has sold out venues across the UK and have performed at festivals across Europe and North America including Songlines Encounters, Shambala, EFG London Jazz Festival, Between the Lines, Smugglers Festival, Fire In The Mountain, Shtetl Neukolln and Hidden Notes. They have been awarded funding by Arts Council England, PRS Women Make Music and Help Musicians.
BANDCAMP: https://franflora.bandcamp.com/
“levitating above and around the material world…”
Max Reinhardt, BBC Radio 3
“Vibrant, mournfully expressive, and creatively imaginative” The Line Of Best Fit
“Playing that has the kind of quality you cant fake.” Tom Robinson, BBC Radio 6 Music
“An album of beguiling beauty.” The Wire
”Brave and classy” The Guardian
“Fran & Flora do wordless sorrow especially well, ‘Doina 1’ sawing and droning with a giddy elegance.” The Quietus
“Border-defying” Mojo
”Indisputable virtuosity and a down-to-earth gleefulness.” Songlines Magazine
“The pair exhibit incredible musicianship, making the most of their instruments’ power to produce passionate music.” Getintothis
”Years of mutual collaboration and an incredibly deep musical bond has resulted in some of the most intuitive and authentic music today.” Folk Radio