Forgive us, we’re a little late to the party with this one and we only have ourselves to blame. Freja Frances has been on our radar for some time now and, after taking a short break, she returned this year with a truly stunning and emotive debut album. ‘The Funeral’ as you can expect is pretty dark and brooding throughout, but its also incredibly poignant, tackling mental health head-on.
Opening with the beautifully melancholic single ‘Catching Fire’, you are immediately absorbed as a listener and transported into Freja’s dark yet captivating world. Combining Freja’s distinctively powerful lead vocal (think Florence Welch vibes) with her signature piano-led melodies, ‘Catching Fire’ is undeniably compelling from the offset.
Similarly stand out tracks such as ‘The Funeral’, ‘Machine’ and ‘The Wolf’ are also deeply enriched with an intimate storytelling charm akin to the likes of Laura Marling or or Billie Marten. Each track is performed with such emotion, its hard not to shed a tear yourself when you’re listening. Here is an artist who is not afraid to face her depression head-on and share her pains with the world, unashamed and unforgiving.
Talking about the album, Freja elaborates “it’s definitely my darkest collection of songs – they were written a few years back at a time when I was struggling with depression and an unhealthy relationship. Lyrically the songs are very inspired by the indie and emo bands I was listening to at the time.”
We sincerely hope Freja is incredibly proud of this release, it takes huge amounts of courage to dig this deep and share something so vulnerable and intimate. Congratulations and thank you Freja, we can’t wait to see what 2020 has in-store for you.
‘The Funeral’ is out now.