Frances Chang – Auratones of Desire
Brooklyn-based musician and multi-media artist Frances Chang presents “Auratones of desire,” the single/video from her forthcoming album, been thinking bout confession, out August 21st via RVNG Intl.
been thinking bout confession is a synth-tinged experimental pop excavation of the self and the vast unknown depths it contains. Largely written on a hundred-year-old baby grand piano, the album situates the unbridled emotion of Chang’s DIY roots within a complex and poetic sonic landscape that interweaves orchestral arrangements with idiosyncratic, almost sculptural, electronic and analog interventions.
Following “Is affect real?,” “a featherlight bit of cinematic minimalism” (Loud & Quiet), “Auratones of desire” is what Chang calls a “classic psychological story of projection” — it begins with the fear of running into an unnamed figure, then proceeds to a feeling of subsequent disappointment at their absence. The half Stravinsky, half noir strings that guide her voice throughout are fittingly trepidatious, creeping along until the suspense crescendos. As is so often the case in so many psychological thrillers, the figure that “Auratones of desire” is allegedly “about” is really just another facet of the self.
“Auratones of desire” arrives alongside a video by Chang and filmmaker Annie Horner. Chang comments: “I wanted to shoot it on black and white Super 8, and capture the noir-psychological thriller of it all. Annie quickly pulled in Persona as a central reference. We leaned into the horror aspect, the surrender and mystery of the medium, our shoestring budget, and the fact that we didn’t have total control over the result. I often dream about watching movies, where I can’t quite watch the film… Instead, I’m stuck watching the projector, or confused because I’m the source of the projection. So we leaned extra into the movie theater / cinema-as-stage thing.”
been thinking bout confession was recorded between Chang’s home in Sunset Park, Brooklyn and the Maspeth, Queens studio of collaborator and album co-producer Andréa Schiavelli (Eyes of Love) who also contributed electric bass and some additional piano playing. Though the album is sonically indebted to the extraterrestrial beauty of Bjork and the retrofuturistic dreaminess of Broadcast, Chang also cites less likely influences like Chet Baker, Dionne Warwick and Burt Bacharach in forming the emotional backbone of the album.
Throughout been thinking bout confession, alien vocals can turn crystal-clear and piercing in an instant, just as irreverent electronic arrangements can erupt amidst what began as a straightforward piano ballad. This sense of experimentation, dislocation and possibility gives the album an exhilarating, inquisitive edge. The most significant musical presence is Chang’s voice: both pillow-soft and oddly dry, it’s often the loudest element in the mix. The proximity creates a bizarre depth-of-field, recalling the album’s persistent dialogue with cinema. The songs move like scenes, quiet reckonings with the friction between inner life and external demand. What emerges is a coming-of-consciousness film rendered in sound, where Chang’s vocal plays both narrator and witness.
The sins being “confessed” on been thinking bout confession are of a slippery sort. The lines between truth and untruth are blurred as the album’s “protagonist” alternately approaches and retreats from a clearer self-understanding — we, the listeners, have almost the sense that we are eavesdropping on an intensely personal reckoning. Inviting us into the nether regions of the self, been thinking bout confession is at once disconcerting and thrilling.
Following a tour supporting Cate Le Bon across North America earlier this year, Chang will play shows with Bill Callahan next month.
Frances Chang Tour Dates
Wed. July 22 – New York, NY @ Spring (bar)
Thu. Aug. 20 – Santa Fe, NM @ The Bridge at Santa Fe Brewing Co. +
Fri. Aug. 21 – Florence, CO @ Desert Reef Hot Springs +
Sat. Aug. 22 – Denver, CO @ Federal Theatre +
Sun. Aug 23 – Salt Lake City, UT @ Utah Museum of Contemporary Art +
Mon. Aug. 24 – Boise, ID @ Shrine Social Club +
Tue. Sep. 1 – Los Angeles, CA @ Philosophical Research Society
+ = with Bill Callahan
^ = with Prymek & Sage
# = with Lina Tullgren
#p.l.u.t.o.n.e.s.s