FRANKIE ROSE announces new album, Cage Tropical, due Aug. 11 on Slumberland/Grey Market – Listen to ”Trouble” + full tour announced
STREAM: “Trouble” –
Spotify / YouTube
Slumberland Records and Grey Market are excited to announce Cage Tropical, the new album from Brooklyn-based artist, Frankie Rose, due August 11. Featuring sci-fi references and ’80s influences, the lead single “Trouble” is described by The Line of Best Fit as, “a driving first taste, with a rock-solid motorik underpinning Rose’s wiry synthwork and frayed vocals.”
The visualizer video for “Trouble” features a hotline fans can call that’s based out of Roswell, New Mexico. Callers are encouraged to leave their paranormal and extraterrestrial / UFO encounter stories on the hotline number. All messages will be screened for possible inclusion on the Weird Night with Juan & Frankie podcast, launching later this summer and focused on the connection between music and the paranormal.
Frankie says of the song, “Trouble came out of the simple realization that you can’t outrun yourself or your problems. Wherever you go they will follow you unless you address them. I tried. Went to Los Angeles after years in New York and nothing much changed. 3000 miles was a long distance on the map, but it didn’t mean anything was going to shift automatically, unless I made the choice to do it internally.”
TOUR DATES:
NORTH AMERICAN TOUR
JUN 14 – BOSTON – The Sinclair*
JUN 15 – PORTSMOUTH, NH – 3s Art Space*
JUN 16 – MONTREAL – Bar Le Ritz PDB*
JUN 17 – TORONTO – Horseshoe Tavern*
JUN 19 – CLEVELAND – The Grog Shop*
JUN 20 – DETROIT – El Club*
AUG 11 – PHILADELPHIA – Johnny Brenda’s
AUG 12 – NEW YORK – Baby’s All Right
SEP 12 – WASHINGTON DC – DC9
SEP 13 – CARRBORO – Cats Cradle
SEP 14 – ATLANTA – The Earl
SEP 15 – NASHVILLE – The End
SEP 17 – NEW ORLEANS – Gasa Gasa
SEP 18 – HOUSTON – Walters Downtown
SEP 19 – DALLAS – Club Dada
SEP 20 – AUSTIN – Barracuda
SEP 22 – PHOENIX – Rebel Lounge
SEP 23 – SAN DIEGO – Soda Bar
SEP 24 – LOS ANGELES – The Echo
SEP 25 – SAN FRANCISCO – Rickshaw Stop
SEP 28 – PORTLAND – Doug Fir
SEP 29 – SEATTLE – Barboza
SEP 30 – VANCOUVER – The Cobalt
OCT 2 – SALT LAKE CITY – Kilby Court
OCT 3 – DENVER – Globe Hall
OCT 6 – ST PAUL – Turf Club
OCT 7 – CHICAGO – Empty Bottle
OCT 9 – PITTSBURGH – Club Cafe
OCT 10 – BUFFALO – Studio at Waiting Room
OCT 12– NEW YORK – Rough Trade
* – w/ Pains of Being Pure at Heart
UK/EU TOUR
OCT 17 – BRIGHTON – The Joker
OCT 18 – LONDON – Moth Club
OCT 19 – MANCHESTER – Castle
OCT 20 – EDINBURGH – Sneaky Pete
OCT 21 – COVENTRY – Kasbah
OCT 22 – NOTTINGHAM – Bodega
OCT 24 – LEEDS – Brudenell Social Club
OCT 25 – TURNBRIDGE WELLS – The Forum
OCT 28 – AMSTERDAM – London Calling
About Cage Tropical:
After spending years as a major presence in Brooklyn’s thriving music scene, playing in acts such as Crystal Stilts, Dum Dum Girls, Vivian Girls and Beverly, Frankie Rose relocated to her familial home of Los Angeles for 18 months with the intention of establishing yet another moment in her storied indie rock métier. Gradually, she found herself short on sleep, funds and optimism. “I moved to LA, drama ensued and I ended up on a catering truck. I was like, how can this be my life after being a touring musician and living off of music. I had really lost my way and I thought I was totally done.”
Through sleepless nights of listening to broadcaster Art Bell’s paranormal-themed archives, Frankie’s thoughts had turned to “who am I, I’m not cut out for this business, it’s not for me.” She continues, “I was literally in my room in L.A., not knowing how I was going to get out. But out of it all, I just decided to keep making music, because it is what I love and what I do – regardless of the outcome.”
Towards the end of her time spent in Los Angeles, Frankie reached out to Jorge Elbrecht (Tamaryn, Gang Gang Dance, No Joy, Violens) and began sketching what became the basic outline of what felt like a new album. Then, rather fortuitously, Frankie ended up back in Brooklyn with the realization that “in the end, I’m on my own. I have to do these things on my own.”
The months that ensued meant basically working with no budget and finding ways to record in-between days. This time enabled Frankie to experiment musically with a variety of people that ultimately changed the way she worked. “I got a lot of input from people like Dave Harrington (Darkside), who was helpful reconstructing the songs, adding dynamics and changing up the rhythms.”
The result of this existential odyssey is Cage Tropical, Frankie’s fourth album. It is awash with vintage synths, painterly effects pedals, upside down atmosphere and reverberating vocals. It evokes a new wave paranormality of sorts that drifts beyond the songs themselves. “My references aren’t just music,” says Frankie, “I love old sci-fi. They Live is one of my favorite movies ever, same with Suspiria. 80’s sci-fi movies with a John Carpenter soundtrack, with silly synths – that makes it into my file, to the point that I’ll write lyrics incorporating that kind of stuff. It’s in there.”
Beginning with the shimmery, cinematic and percussive sparkling of the album’s opening track “Love in Rockets,” the song’s refrain of “a wheel, a wheel of wasting my life: a wheel, a wheel of wasting my time” immediately alludes to those darker circumstances that led to the creative origins of Cage Tropical.”It’s all essentially based on what happened to me in Los Angeles and then a return to Brooklyn,” says Frankie. “Misery turned into something good. The whole record to me is a redemption record and it is the most positive one I’ve made.”
“I feel like I am finally free from worrying about an outcome. I don’t care. I already lost everything. I already had the worst-case scenario. When that happens, you do become free. In the end, it’s about me rescuing myself via having this record.”
FRANKIE ROSE LINKS:
Official Site
Twitter
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Slumberland
Grey Market