Artist Pete Francis
Album The Movie We Are In
Released 2010
Label Scrapper Records
Link http://www.petefrancis.com
New York City based singer-songwriter, Pete Francis, is set to release his new album The Movie We Are In this May 2010. Whereas Francis’ previous solo albums were largely self-produced, he uprooted his more traditional approach to album-making and assembled an entirely new crew with Los Angeles based producer Jeff Trott (right hand man to Sheryl Crow as writer and guitarist).
Says Francis, “In the past I’ve worked with acoustic guitar, bass, drums, B3 organ, but I wanted to bring a modern electronic element into my music. When first speaking with Jeff Trott, I quickly realized he had great musical instincts and that he was getting my tunes. And then, he brought ideas to the table that I hadn’t imagined. I saw a new musical landscape could be created with my songs by working with him.”
By WDCPoet
The Movie We Are In starts with a craving for speed and wanting to make the audience jam a bit, but ends on a lower note that may turn the album’s feel around. The album begins with force and ends limping a bit. After stumbles in the middle, it’s safe to say that when Pete is chipper, he shines. Advice: stick to the fast tracks and kudos on bringing an electro feel, it worked.
“Glue” is such a perfect leading track. It’s wonderfully deceiving. It starts out as if a Postal Service disc was mistakenly packed inside a Pete’s case. Then in the first uttered word his voice sounds like Chris Martin’s, that is, until you try to listen closely and the resemblance is then gone. This track takes all the best from rock, acoustic and pop which has made the likes of Coldplay and James Blunt successful, while blending it beautifully. This song is soothing when it’s not catchy. ★★★★★★★★★★
“Cartoon Sharks” seems to exemplify what Pete is all about. While he corners himself into corny rhymes, he still manages to not only make it his and make it work, but the way his voice weaves around his lyrics manages to erase the actual music. Once the fascination of his voice is questioned, and the instrumentals are discovered, “Sharks” is already embedded in your head. ★★★★★★★★★★
“Light Years” sounds well but doesn’t do anything extremely amusing or new. This has rockier elements to the instrumentals with guitar riffs galore, but the lyrics start to become forgetful. ★★★★★★★★
“Good Man” has moments where his voice is so familiar that the music is shelved in the music library of your mind as if you already knew it. It’s like those types of tracks that play repetitively on soft rock radio stations. This is definitely a track that isn’t bringing anything new to the table, but it’s so good and comfortable, there’s no use in fighting its allure. ★★★★★★★★★
“Red Cloud Road” is where Pete picks up his personality back again. Although there is no denying Pete’s music is homage to folk music from over the years, this one fits him like a glove. “Cloud” stays on the same path as “Glue” and while bringing down the tone, allows himself to shine. ★★★★★★★★★★
“Love Shakes You Down” starts like a Japanese wet-dream, transitioning into an uplifting mesh of live-show guitars and sha-lala choir moments. Without a doubt, the best fast track on this album; perfect for any type of commercial ever made (Think of it! Can you see McDonald’s or even Apple’s iTunes using this?). This song is worthy for the chorus only. Oh, and that intro. ★★★★★★★★★★
“Light Up My Way” this is the most eclectic song, compared to those that came before it. More folk and country is fused into this track than in any other which can cause it to be a bit too mellow. ★★★★★★
“Yellow Bird” needs to pick up the pace. Whenever the music sounds like it may climax, it doesn’t. Even the chorus gets close to a peak, but fails. ★★★★★★★
“St. Paul’s Fair” is a talk-heavy track that saves the album from the previous two tracks. Story telling time! ★★★★★★★★
“Constant Fire” gets into an electronic groove just like “Glue” did before and while it also shifts musical focus, instead of going the European-sounding route it maintains the folk feel of the album. ★★★★★★★★★★
“I Didn’t Know I Built It” semi-efficiently ends the album on a melancholic note. ★★★★★★★★
By Max Ingram
The Movie We Are In is the latest album from New York based singer-songwriter Pete Francis. And while the majority of the album consists of truly enjoyable music that seems to take pleasure in tap-dancing the line between classic folk and modern alternative rock, there are also a couple of truly awful tracks that never should have made the cut.
The two songs I’m referring to are “Love Shakes You Down” and “Light Up My Day.” The first of these two sounds like something I’d hear on a cheesy light-rock Christmas album, complete with bells chiming in the background and a sappy upbeat tempo that made me think of fake snow on a Hollywood sound stage. Ironically, this song has been chosen as the first official single to be released for the album’s promotion, and it has to be my least favorite of the whole bunch.
The other offender, “Light Up My Day,” has a bit of a country twang and a sleepy, forgettable arrangement that gave me the urge to skip right past it. It actually made me borderline nauseous with it’s horn section accompaniment on the chorus, and sounded like a Chicago B-side circa 1971.
But aside from those two puzzling anomalies, The Movie We Are In actually has a really interesting sound with thought-provoking lyrics and a mix of acoustic and electric elements that made for several truly memorable sonic explorations.
Pete Francis has a voice that reminds me both of Bob Dylan and Marcy Playground’s John Wozniak. In fact, if you were to toss the music of both those artists into a blender, The Movie We Are In is probably just the kind of album you’d end up with. It has a strong folk music sensibility with it’s heavy reliance on acoustic guitar, but retains a suitably modern sound by virtue of it’s quirky delivery and occasional electric interludes.
Of the tracks I enjoyed most, “Light Years” was one of the more fast paced with a catchy rhythm and quick guitar strumming that made it stand out to my ears. In fact, if Joss Whedon’s Firefly was still on the air, this song would have been a good one to crop up in one of it’s episodes.
“Glue” was also a genuine pleasure for the ears, with a sound sometimes reminiscent of Modest Mouse, and a laid back lyrical playfulness that’s sure to warrant a position on many listener’s favorite playlist.
If “Love Shakes You Down” and “Light Up My Day” had been left off the album entirely, I probably would have enjoyed the whole affair to a higher degree. But as it is, their presence brings the album down a bit. In the end though, it’s definitely worth checking out, and I’m sure many people will find a great deal of it’s music to be a nice addition to their collection.
Tags: cds, pete francis
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