Franc Moody shares ‘Space Between Us’ & announces Night Tapes as support for O2 Academy Brixton show
FRANC MOODY
SHARES FINAL LOOK INTO UPCOMING ALBUM WITH ’SPACE BETWEEN US’
CHEWING THE FAT OUT 7TH MARCH VIA NIGHT TIME STORIES
NIGHT TAPES ANNOUNCED AS SUPPORT FOR O2 ACADEMY BRIXTON SHOW
EU & UK HEADLINE TOUR FOR SPRING 2025
INCLUDING NEWLY ANNOUNCED ALBUM RELEASE SHOW AT ROUGH TRADE EAST SHOW ON 7TH MARCH
Photo credit: Wilm Danby | DL
“An eclectic, timeless sound and an infectious energy that feels live wired straight into the crowd” – Rolling Stone
“It’s a production period for Franc Moody, melting together disco deviance with a synth-pop elixir to create some cracking pop melodies.” – Clash
“The U.K. duo give the state of sorely sticking out a funky and light-hearted soundtrack, complete with a prim, strings-filled introduction, reverberating woodblock hits, and neon-streaked synths, as they work to get back to their authentic state.” – Billboard
“You’ll be struggling not to dance along” – The Evening Standard
“Marinated in funk and roasted in optimism” – The Line of Best Fit
“Funk-infused sonic hedonism” – Wonderland
Following on from a worldwide premiere on Jack Saunders’ BBC Radio 1’s New Music Show last night, London based duo Franc Moody – the project from Jon Moody and Ned Franc – unveil ‘Space Between Us’ as a final preview of their upcoming third studio album Chewing The Fat, out 7th March via Night Time Stories. This track follows on from previously shared singles; infectious ‘Bloodlines’, furiously fun ‘Driving On The Wrong Side of The Road’ and the new era’s introductory track, ‘Going Through The Motions’.
“‘Space Between Us’ feels like a funk fuelled cavalry charge that draws on elements of psychedelia, pub rock and space exploration.” Franc Moody explains. “It’s become a rule of ours to have a shuffle beat on each album, a groove we’ve grown to love in the FM format.”
The duo admits that they “came back from a writing trip in LA with the beat and bass line thinking nothing of it really, only for it then to all come together very quickly back in the studio HQ in London one evening. We hope you enjoy!”
Today also comes with the announcement that dreamy, genre-bending trio Night Tapes will be joining them as support for their O2 Academy Brixton show, alongside the exciting news of an album launch event and performance at Rough Trade East on March 7th.
Franc Moody are set to embark on a slew of highly anticipated EU & UK tour dates later this year, including an in-store album tour and a show at London’s O2 Academy Brixton on 3rd April 2025. Full list of dates below.
LISTEN TO ‘SPACE BETWEEN US’ HERE
PRE-ORDER CHEWING THE FAT HERE
About Franc Moody:
The Franc Moody story is a Byzantine thread that runs from Wiltshire, via Tottenham and Soho, passes through Louisiana and onto LA, before alighting somewhere south of Kingston-Upon-Thames. Life is good for Jon Moody and Ned Franc.
This duo, steeped in the gravelly realism of 1950s blues, jump and swing, sure know their Wynonie Harris’s from their Dave Bartholomews. They formed bands. Many, many bands. They lived in a warehouse in Tottenham for a few years with musicians of differing temperaments. Their membership of numerous bands mirrors the travails of Spinal Tap, except for the paucity of exploding drummers (their current tour drummer Dan, remains, thankfully thus far unexploded). “It just became very apparent that me and Ned had a different approach and wanted to split off,” asserts Jon. “We were the people making it happen.” And make it happen they did.
After trying to be jazzers, bluesmen and various stripes of heritage Americana, thanks to Jon’s growing interest in the bottomless world of synthesisers, they decided to get contemporary. “We spent so long trying to desperately make a record that sounded like it was cut in 1952,” says Jon, “but I basically bought my first synthesiser, a Juno 60, and that led into a slightly more interesting path.”
That path, which went via Norway, included listening to Todd Terje and Lindstrøm – so their new MO was simple, says Ned, “It was all about grooves; the onus would be to make people dance.” Their poky, ramshackle studio wouldn’t fit a drummer, so it was drum machines all the way (these days, they add the spice of live percussion and hi-hats over the top, for that extra swing).
So this is a new album, a new label and, quite literally, a new start. After ploughing the same furrow for the past eight years, they’d reached an impasse where it felt that things had to change. An underwhelming performance at Glastonbury, where they were pitted against the Watford behemoth that is Elton John, meant a sparse crowd and flat delivery – plus personal life challenges. The pair felt they needed to evolve.
Ned sums it up beautifully. “Life is really like a series of changes and you can either embrace it and step into the unknown full of heart and bravery and plough fresh new pastures or you can carry on doing the same thing and live a safer life – but maybe not with the colour and vivacity that you could have had you taken a bolder path.”
This new path was energised by a couple of inspiring veteran live performances that demonstrated that it’s not about age or experience, but attitude. Watching LCD Soundsystemplay live in LA last year and Massive Attack in 2024, helped give them a renewed sense of purpose. “They showed that delivering something can be more direct, poignant, digestible but also offers a little bit of edge.”
They stripped back Franc Moody to its chassis, and rebuilt it up, with the aid of some wacky synthesisers courtesy of the Damon Albarn broom cupboard (the duo rent a studio space from the Blur maven). “We’ve got arguably one of the most interesting collection of synths in the world at our disposal and found that the tones and colors of – especially, weirdly – a lot of the Russian synthesisers that he’s got, the peculiar string machines and oddball little furry analog things that no one can understand what’s written on them actually became the basis of the sonic palette that we put together.” The result of this is Chewing The Fat, the latest album. A bit less disco, a bit more grunge and grit. The Franc Moody vehicle is maybe a bit more Hindustan Ambassador and a bit less Corvette.
“We needed to rethink sonically how we wanted to present the project,” explains Jon. “We wanted to take away a little bit of the disco sheen that kind of crept into the sonics and try and have a slightly more raw and guttural approach to the music.” They’ve done this without forsaking the core aesthetic of the group, its ability to produce those anthemic hooks, while delivering some truly lovely 10cc-style backing vocals and string-lines courtesy of those delightfully malfunctioning Russian synths. As they sing on ’Going Through The Motions’, “Oh my Lord, I’m in the sweet spot.” No wonder their Spotify numbers are through the roof.
“What we’re trying to do is make music that will last – and sound great in 10 years,” offers Jon. “And I think it is important to a certain degree to present a place of escape for people, people to clock off and tap into something else for a bit and, you know, get rid of some baggage.” In a world that feels like it’s going to hell in a hand-cart, there are worse ambitions than to bring some joy into the lives of people, even if only for a few hours in a concert hall (or five minutes on a dancefloor).
Franc Moody Live:
07/03 – Rough Trade East, UK
09/03 – Vinyl Whistle, Leeds, UK
10/03 – Jacaranda, Liverpool, UK
11/03 – Vinilo, Southampton, UK
12/03 – Pie & Vinyl, Southsea, UK
03/04 – O2 Academy Brixton, London, UK
09/04 – Tivoli – Utrecht, NL – SOLD OUT
11/04 – Astra Kulturhaus – Berlin, DE
12/04 – Poolen – Copenhagen, DK
Tour poster | DL hi-res HERE
O2 Academy Brixton poster HERE
Buy tickets for their upcoming tour HERE.
Tracklist:
- Driving On The Wrong Side Of The Road
- Square Pegs In Round Holes
- Space Between Us
- Bloodlines
- Going Through The Motions
- Chewing The Fat
- Henges
- Pressure Makes Diamonds
- Can’t Find The Words
- The Light You Bring
Franc Moody online: