Sometimes music seems to come from an undefinable source, appearing in your mind as though sent from a place outside of yourself. Other times it comes from your friend’s brain while you are sitting right next to them, and it still somehow feels like your own.
haha same, the new project from Greta Kline of Frankie Cosmos and Cody Fitzgerald of Stolen Jars, is an effortless collaboration between friends. Filled with warmth, energy, and just a tinge of darkness, their singles “Guess What To Do” and “Calling It A Night” are a true mix of their distinct musical styles. Fitzgerald’s indie-pop production style marries perfectly with Kline’s particular lyrical sensibility, grasping for an understanding of the world at large by focusing in on the smallest moments. It all comes together to give haha same a sound all their own.
“A word that kept coming up when we talked about collaborating was ‘easy’,” says Kline of the songwriting process, “we bounced sonic ideas around and got excited about little details. Sometimes Cody would be laying down a part in the song and I’d be sitting on the floor with his dog Moon, writing lyrics. Then we kind of unfolded the stories behind the songs together, asking questions and clarifying the meanings behind each line.”
“Yeah exactly,” notes Fitzgerald, “over the course of a couple hours these songs felt like they had fallen out of our brains fully formed. At the end of the day, these songs are about extremely particular, but very relatable moments in life. So just like we did when we were writing them, we hope that everyone who listens to them will have that same moment of recognition and maybe even find themselves saying the words ‘haha same.’”
En Attendant Ana is a Paris-based indie pop band formed in 2014 and known for their jangly guitars, catchy hooks, layered melodies and poetic lyrics that gravitate around Margaux Bouchaudon’s vocals. They burst onto the international scene with their debut album Lost and Found on Chicago’s Trouble in Mind label, which led to a U.S. tour in 2018.
Their second album Juillet has a similar energy, but sees the band make an artistic shift from the lo-fi references of their debut to more sophisticated songwriting. Released just before the lock-down, the album was critically acclaimed but never got the chance to be fully presented live by the band, who are known for their raw, emotional, captivating, and honest live performances.
In 2023, En Attendant Ana (Margaux Bouchaudon, Camille Fréchou, Maxence Tomasso, Vincent Hivert et Adrien Pollin) returned with a third album entitled Principia, widely considered their best work to date, which saw them travel the world on an impressive world tour. The album, said to nod to ’90s British indie, jazz, Krautrock and French pop, has been very well received, both by the media, who have placed Principia on numerous year-end lists (here’s TIME…), and by the band’s ever-growing audience. Here at Sub Pop we’re altogether crazy about them.
En Attendant Ana’s UK tour schedule for 2024 begins Tuesday, April 2nd in Kalsruhe, DE at Kohl, and runs through June 14th in Southend, UK at Twenty-One Arts. A full list of dates are below.
Tue. Apr. 02 - Kalsruhe, DE - Kohl Wed. Apr. 03 - Stuttgart, DE - Merlin Thu. Apr. 04 - Nuremberg, DE - Soft Spot Fri. Apr. 05 - Berlin, DE - Schokoladen Sat. Apr. 06 - Hannover, DE - Feinkost Lampe Sun. Apr. 07 - Hambourg, DE - Nachtasyl Mon. Apr. 09 - Amsterdam, NL - Toekomstmuziek Wed. Apr. 11 - Liège, BE - Kultura Fri. May 17 - Brighton, UK - The Great Escape (One Church) Sat. May 18 - Brighton, UK - The Great Escape (Patterns) Sun. May 19 - Coventry, UK -Just Dropped In Records Mon. May 20 - Newcastle, UK - Cumberland Arms Tue. May 21 - Hull, UK - Polar Bear Music Club Wed. May 22 - Glasgow, UK - Mono Thu. May 23 - Liverpool, UK - Kazimier Stockroom Fri. May 24 - London, UK - Dot to Dot Party (Oslo) Sat. May 25 - Bristol, UK - Dot to Dot festival Sun. May 26 - Nottingham, UK - Dot to Dot festival Fri. Jun. 14 - Southend, UK - Twenty-One Arts
You can still subscribe to the Sub Pop Singles Club Vol. 8 to get all twelve super-limited 7” vinyl records featuring exclusive music by today’s finest musicians! It’s limited to a mere 835 subscriptions because it’s volume 8, and 2023 marked Sub Pop’s 35th birthday! You’ll get the aforementioned 7”s from En Attendant Ana and haha same, along with singles from Mary Jane Dunphe, Vanishing Twin, SUNN O))), Telehealth, Thrash Palace (feat. EMA, Vice Cooler, Sarah Register), Gaye Su Akyol, Jessica Winter & Jonathan Snipes, Margaritas Podridas, Brontez Purnell, and Suki Waterhouse (which includes her collaboration with Belle & Sebastian).
Computer users: fear not! You will also get digital downloads of the tracks through your Sub Pop Mega Mart account. Hear music from the series via the Singles Club playlist, and subscribe here.
Frankie Cosmos’ “Abigail,” one of the pawsitively awesome standouts from 2022’s Inner World Peace, is being released today on all streaming services as a new remix by Kero Kero Bonito, along with a new arrangement of the song by Greta Kline, and the original demo version.
Kline says, “‘Abigail’ is named after, and is partly about, a dog I saw on Petfinder years ago and became obsessed with. The album art is my drawn version of a real text exchange about her.”
“Kero Kero Bonito is one of our favorite bands (collectively) and after we covered ‘Fish Bowl’ for their ‘remix’ album in 2017, they always said they would remix something of ours someday. They went above and beyond crafting such a fun & original track from the ‘Abigail’ stems for the Kero Kero Bonito remix.
“I’m excited to also showcase my ability as a producer by releasing a new arrangement of ‘Abigail (Casio Version)’ recorded entirely by me at home.
“The original demo of ‘Abigail (Great Scraps Demo)’ is a full verse shorter and super bare - it shows how much the band expanded it and brought it to life for the album version. I think it’s fun to let the listener in on some of the different ways a song can exist, it’s infinite!”
Frankie Cosmos has scheduled a fall US tour in support of Inner World Peace and its expanded, digital deluxe edition Clean Weird Prone, both available now from Sub Pop. The dates begin Friday, September 22nd in Washington, DC at 9:30 Club and end Sunday, October 8th in Brooklyn, NY at Warsaw. Please find a current list of dates below.
Fri. Sep. 22 - Washington, DC - 930 Club Sat. Sep. 23 - Virginia Beach, VA - The Bunker Brewpub Sun. Sep. 24 - Asheville, NC - Grey Eagle Tavern Mon. Sep. 25 - Atlanta, GA - Terminal West Thu. Sep. 28 - Austin, TX - Mohawk Fri. Sep. 29 - San Antonio, TX - Paper Tiger Sat. Sep. 30 - Dallas, TX - Sons of Hermann Hall Sun. Oct. 01 - Tulsa, OK - Guthrie Green Mon. Oct. 02 - St Louis, MO - Off-Broadway Tue. Oct. 03 - Chicago, IL - Empty Bottle Wed. Oct. 04 - Lakewood, OH - Mahalls Thu. Oct. 05 Philadelphia, PA - First Unitarian Church, Sun. Oct. 08 - Brooklyn, NY - Warsaw
Frankie Cosmos’ Clean Weird Prone (Inner World Peace Deluxe), is an expanded edition of the band’s 2022 album, Inner World Peace, which garnered praise from The New York Times, PAPER, Pitchfork, Brooklyn Vegan, Consequence, PASTE, Under The Radar (“Best Albums of 2022”), and Uproxx.
Clean Weird Prone includes the original 15-track Inner World Peace tracklist, along with unreleased tracks, demos, and alternate versions of the album’s songs.
What people are saying about Frankie Cosmos Inner World Peace: “Inner World Peace benefits from that introspection in its ability to groove. These songs bend and stretch like they’re toying with psych pop, even though the music is still delivered through Frankie Cosmos’ now-trademark minimalism. It’s that Stereolab-esque refrain repeating at the end of “A Work Call,” Alex Bailey’s roving bass and guitar parts straight out of the ‘60s in “Fragments,” Lauren Martin’s airy synth warbling like a ripple of smoke in “Fruit Stand.” The better you begin to understand yourself, the easier it becomes to move about the world. That looseness is at the heart of Inner World Peace, both in music and lyrics.” - PITCHFORK
“Growing up but not giving up, Frankie Cosmos counteracts time by way of a shift in sound toward the psychedelic. With looped riffs of whiny reverb and distinct sound layers, Inner World Peace lulls the listener’s sense of awareness; and consequently, produces an experience that is indifferent to time.” - POST-TRASH
“The warped guitar pitches, strutting bass, and spacey keys of “Aftershook,” for example, set a Halloween-friendly mood between brisker segments of punchy indie pop. “F.O.O.F.” (“freak out on Friday”) seems to bridge modern guitar pop, prog rock, and retro sunshine pop thanks in part to its lilting double-tracked lead vocal, fuzzy guitar tones, and breezy backing vocals.” - ALL MUSIC
Clean Weird Prone includes the original 15-track Inner World Peace tracklist, along with unreleased tracks, demos, and alternate versions of the album’s songs. Frankie Cosmos’s mastermind, Greta Kline, shares about this release:
“Maybe it’s ego, maybe it’s an obsession with archiving, maybe it’s just for fun. But I have always had a bit of a focus on preserving the first way the song went. It’s hard for me to let go of my demos. These are some of the many seeds of the album. I wanted to share a sampling (I have about 5 times as much material) because Inner World Peace was a drawn-out and unique album process. “Since forming the band, I have always had tours breaking up writing and arranging time…until 2020. This was also the first album since Zentropy that I wrote without any release plan or hopes to tour. I think that freeness can be felt in the album and the demos.
My demo-ing process is extremely stripped down, and until 2020 I recorded my vocals straight into my computer mic or my earbud mic (track 5, “hey whatsup” is from that era). I can still carry my whole recording setup (sans instruments) in a tote bag. When I think about these recordings, I can physically place myself in a lot of them. Beds, floors, sometimes desks or tables. The internal and personal moment with the core of the song before it gets shared with bandmates and producers and expanded into the butterfly. These are my cocoons!”
Photo credit: Pooneh Ghana
As previously announced, Frankie Cosmos has a string of outdoor headline shows that begin on May 4th, in Los Angeles, with additional dates in Big Sur and San Francisco. The band is also confirmed to play Kilby Block Party Festival in Salt Lake City, UT, on May 12th.
Fri. May 12 - Salt Lake City, UT - Kilby Block Party # Sun. May 07 - San Francisco, CA - The chapel (outside) Fri. May 05 - Big Sur, CA - Henry miller library $ Thur. May 04 - Los Angeles, CA - spoke cafe $ Wed. May 03 - Joshua Tree, CA - The Firehouse $
# w/ The Strokes, Pavement, The Yeah Yeah Yeahs + more
$ w/ Dear Nora
These dates mark Frankie Cosmos’s first time playing outside of their hometown of NYC since 2019 and are in support of Inner World Peace. The album and its singles garnered praise from The New York Times, PAPER, Pitchfork, Brooklyn Vegan, Consequence, PASTE, Under The Radar (“Best Albums of 2022”), and Uproxx.
Frankie Cosmos Clean Weird Prone (Inner World Peace Deluxe)
Tracklisting 1. Abigail 2. Aftershook 3. Fruit Stand 4. Magnetic Personality 5. Wayne 6. Sky Magnet 7. A Work Call 8. Empty Head 9. Fragments 10. Prolonging Babyhood 11. One Year Stand 12. F.O.O.F. 13. Street View 14. Spare the Guitar 15. Heed the Call 16. one year stand (Alex moodboard) 17. empty head (demo) 18. aftershook (demo) 19. i’m not worried 20. hey whatsup 21. fragments (demo) 22. sky magnet (Alex demo) 23. a work call (demo) 24. wayne (demo) 25. must be nice (single tear)
What people are saying about Frankie Cosmos Inner World Peace: “Minimal and impressionistic — a collection of small features that coalesce into a vivid landscape.” [“One Year Stand”] - PAPER
“Instrumentally understated, with cheeky and sweet lyrics sung in Greta’s classic whispery tone. The band stays true to their bedroom indie sound through the song and music video” [“One Year Stand”] - Brooklyn Vegan
“Patient and lush.” [“One Year Stand”] - Uproxx
“Dreamy” [“One Year Stand”] - Consequence of Sound
“The band’s instrumentation feels more substantial, bringing in a loose, psychedelic groove that feels like new ground. Buoyed by a winsome melody and spirited rhythm section, Frankie Cosmos’ latest single “F.O.O.F.” (“Freak Out on Friday”), continues this collaborative streak. Kline is abuzz with anticipation on the power-pop gem…” - Pitchfork
“Robert Smith was in love on Friday, Rebecca Black had to get down on Friday and now Greta Kline — leader of the indie-pop project Frankie Cosmos — freaks out on Friday. That’s what the playful acronym “F.O.O.F.” stands for and, accordingly, the latest single from Frankie Cosmos’s forthcoming album “Inner World Peace” is alive with Kline’s signature wry, muted humor. “It’s still Wednesday, I have to wait two more sleeps ’til I can freak,” Kline sighs, while a mildly noodly guitar solo saves up its most raucous energy. That the brief song ends before that promised freakout is the point: Kline is more interested in capturing that hopeful, anticipatory feeling — usually a comforting fiction — that everything will be all right once the weekend comes.” - New York Times
“Their latest preview of the record, “F.O.O.F.” (short for “Freak Out on Friday”) is a concise song about the way certain feelings are anything but. Over a breezy pop-rock instrumental accented by gently psychedelic guitars and keys, Kline marvels at the elasticity of time…the band’s own history folding in on itself. The song captures, on multiple levels, how the pandemic era has rewritten the rules of societal tension and release, complicating emotional regulation to the point that we each have to get reacquainted with who we really are.” - PASTE
Starting today, Oct. 28th you can now listen to The Eleventh Hour: Songs for Climate Justice. This digital-only charity compilation features previously unreleased music from Moby, Fake Fruit, Frankie Cosmos, Sonny & The Sunsets, Cloud Nothings, Ya Tseen, and more (See below for a full track listing.) Funds collected from this compilation will directly benefit Climate Emergency Fund, a (501c:3) that supports nonviolent, disruptive climate activism.
The Eleventh Hour: Songs for Climate Justice was curated by filmmaker Adam McKay (Don’t Look Up, The Big Short, Vice) and podcaster/producer Matt Dwyer (Conversations with Dwyer & Painting With John ) Adam McKay shares about the project: “This is a frightening moment we’re living through. The climate is warming at an increasingly dangerous pace and Governments and Businesses seem hell-bent on ignoring the problem. And it’s at exactly moments like this when we need inspired artists to interpret, express and F.S.U. Add in the fact that all of the proceeds go to the Climate Emergency Fund and support international civil disobedience and this is one hell of a good trouble-making album.
Play it loud. Play it soft. Play it while occupying an oil CEO’s office. They won’t like this album and would rather you play Rod Stewart’s Christmas album. (God bless Rod Stewart) The climate activists thank you for lending your ears and any and all possible support.
1. Fake Fruit - Over Ice
2. Death Valley Girls - Black Is Red and Blue 3. Cloud Nothings - Friend Array 4. Kathleen - Going In Reverse 5. Ya Tseen - Gliding Through The Atmosphere 6. Deerhoof - Cigars All Around 7. Frankie Cosmos - Table 8. White Denim - Magic 9. Sonny & The Sunsets - Another Thing That Makes No Sense 10. Guerilla Toss - Heathen Money 11. Shannon Lay - Song of Morning 12. Little Wings - New Autumn Pillow 13. Mamalarky - Green Earth 14. Mudhoney - Black Wire 15. Moby - Luckiest
Today, October 21st, 2022, Frankie Cosmos releases their new record, Inner World Peace via Sub Pop. Inner World Peace, is available on CD/LP/CS/DSPs worldwide from Sub Pop. The album features the standout tracks “F.O.O.F.”, “Aftershook,” “One Year Stand,” and “Empty Head.” It was co-produced by Frankie Cosmos, Nate Mendelsohn, and Katie Von Schleicher at Figure 8 Recording in Brooklyn, New York, mixed by Mendelsohn and Von Schleicher, and mastered by Josh Bonati at Bonati Mastering. The Inner World Peace album art also features illustrations from band member Lauren Martin.
About Inner World Peace by Katie Von Schleicher: Several things happened before a warm day when I met the four members of Frankie Cosmos in a Brooklyn studio to begin making their album. Greta Kline spent a few years living with her family and writing a mere 100 songs, turning her empathy anywhere from the navel to the moon, rendering it all warm, close and reflexively humorous. In music, everyone loves a teen sensation, but Kline has never been more fascinating than now, a decade into being one of the most prolific songwriters of her generation. She’s lodged in my mind amongst authors, other observational alchemists like Rachel Cusk or Sheila Heti, but she’s funnier, which is a charm endemic to musicians.
Meanwhile Frankie Cosmos, a rare, dwindling democratic entity called a band, had been on pandemic hiatus with no idea if they’d continue. In the openness of that uncertainty they met up, planning to hang out and play music together for the first time in nearly 500 days. There, whittling down the multitude of music to work with, they created Inner World Peace, a collection of Greta’s songs changed and sculpted by their time together. While Kline’s musical taste at the time was leaning toward aughts indie rock she’d loved as a teenager, keyboardist Lauren Martin and drummer Luke Pyenson cite “droning, meditation, repetition, clarity and intentionality,” as well as “‘70s folk and pop” as a reference for how they approached their parts. Bassist/guitarist Alex Bailey says that at the time he referred to it as their “ambient” or “psych” album. Somewhere between those textural elements and Kline’s penchant for concise pop, Inner World Peace finds its balance.
Instant centerpiece “One Year Stand” is a small snowglobe of intimacy recalling the softest moments of Yo La Tengo’s And Then Nothing Turned Itself Inside Out. Lifted by Martin’s drones on Hammond organ and synthesizer, it could be played on repeat in a loop. I like to think it’s obvious how Greta’s vocals were recorded: late at night as we all sat by in low light, transfixed as she sings “I’m not worried about the / rest of my life / because you are here today / I go back in time / I’m a cast iron.” The voices of Kline and Martin, who have sung together since middle school, blend seamlessly.
The first order of business upon setting up camp in Brooklyn’s Figure 8 studios was to project giant colorful slides the band had made for each track. Co-producing with Nate Mendelsohn, my Shitty Hits Recording partner, we aimed for FC’s aesthetic idiosyncrasies to shine.The mood board for “Magnetic Personality” has a neon green and black checkerboard, a screen capture of the game Street Fighter with “K.O.” in fat red letters, and a cover of Mad Magazine that says “Spy Vs. Spy! The Top Secret Files.” On tracks like “F.O.O.F.” (Freak Out On Friday), “Fragments” and “Aftershook,” the group are at their most psychedelic and playful, interjecting fuzz solos, bits of percussion, and other sonically adventurous ear candy. An internal logic strengthens everything, and in their proggiest moments, Frankie Cosmos are simply a one-take band who don’t miss. When on Inner World Peace they sound wildly, freshly different, it may just be that they’re coming deeper into their own.
Throughout the album there are plays on the notion of feeling seen or invisible, as in “Magnetic Personality” when Kline sings “ask me how I am and I won’t really say,” or in “One Year Stand” when she says “maybe I’m asking myself.” Kline emphasizes that this was her first group of songs in years that weren’t written while on tour, but rather with ample time on her hands. She reflects on past selves in “Abigail” (“that version of myself I don’t want back”) and “Wayne” (“Like in first grade / How I went by Wayne / I always had / another name”). If we’re alone, what becomes of the things we see? As in “Fruit Stand,” Kline asks “If it’s raining and I can’t feel it, is it raining?”
Inner World Peace excels in passing on the emotions it holds. When in the towering “Empty Head” Kline sings of wanting to let thoughts slide away, her voice is buoyed on a bed of synths and harmonium as tranquility abounds. When her thoughts become hurried and full of desire, so does the band, and she leaps from word to word as if unable to contain them all. As a group, they carry it all deftly, and with constant regard for Kline’s point of view.
Says Greta, “To me, the album is about perception. It’s about the question of “who am I?” and whether or not the answer matters. It’s about quantum time, the possibilities of invisible worlds. The album is about finding myself floating in a new context. A teenager again, living with my parents. An adult, choosing to live with my family in an act of love. Time propelled us forward, aged us, and also froze. If you don’t leave the house, who are you to the world? Can you take the person you discover there out with you?”
Frankie Cosmos Inner World Peace
Tracklisting 1. Abigail 2. Aftershook 3. Fruit Stand 4. Magnetic Personality 5. Wayne 6. Sky Magnet 7. A Work Call 8. Empty Head 9. Fragments 10. Prolonging Babyhood 11. One Year Stand 12. F.O.O.F. 13. Street View 14. Spare the Guitar 15. Heed the Call
This Friday, October 21st, 2022, Frankie Cosmos will release their new record, Inner World Peace via Sub Pop. In celebration of the album’s release, the group has shared their latest video for “Empty Head,” a new offering from the album.
This song “is about wishing for inner peace, and conversely: spiraling” shares frontperson Greta Kline. “It’s about self-control and the fear of unlocking myself and overflowing. It’s also about finding joy in small moments - walking in circles, hoping to see the neighbor’s dog. I’m so happy we got to work with Sophia Bennett Holmes again for this music video (I last worked with her in 2014 on the “Art School” video). I love the concept Sophia came up with - it tells its own story that fits in with the story of the song, but also takes it somewhere else. To me, the video is about blossoming because of a chill perspective (once I stop trying to jump into flight, I lift off the ground with ease); and then letting go of the need to be perceived, and instead disappearing and floating into the sunset. It perfectly captures the way meditation works - that once you stop focusing and trying too hard, it comes naturally.”
Inner World Peace, will be available on CD/LP/CS/DSPs worldwide from Sub Pop. The album features the standout tracks “F.O.O.F.”, “Aftershook,” “One Year Stand,” and “Empty Head.” It was co-produced by Frankie Cosmos, Nate Mendelsohn, and Katie Von Schleicher at Figure 8 Recording in Brooklyn, New York, mixed by Mendelsohn and Von Schleicher, and mastered by Josh Bonati at Bonati Mastering. The Inner World Peace album art also features illustrations from band member Lauren Martin.
What people are saying about Frankie Cosmos Inner World Peace: “Minimal and impressionistic — a collection of small features that coalesce into a vivid landscape.” [“One Year Stand”] - PAPER
“Instrumentally understated, with cheeky and sweet lyrics sung in Greta’s classic whispery tone. The band stays true to their bedroom indie sound through the song and music video” [“One Year Stand”] - Brooklyn Vegan
“Patient and lush.” [“One Year Stand”] - Uproxx
“Dreamy” [“One Year Stand”] - Consequence of Sound
“The band’s instrumentation feels more substantial, bringing in a loose, psychedelic groove that feels like new ground. Buoyed by a winsome melody and spirited rhythm section, Frankie Cosmos’ latest single “F.O.O.F.” (“Freak Out on Friday”), continues this collaborative streak. Kline is abuzz with anticipation on the power-pop gem…” - Pitchfork
“Robert Smith was in love on Friday, Rebecca Black had to get down on Friday and now Greta Kline — leader of the indie-pop project Frankie Cosmos — freaks out on Friday. That’s what the playful acronym “F.O.O.F.” stands for and, accordingly, the latest single from Frankie Cosmos’s forthcoming album “Inner World Peace” is alive with Kline’s signature wry, muted humor. “It’s still Wednesday, I have to wait two more sleeps ’til I can freak,” Kline sighs, while a mildly noodly guitar solo saves up its most raucous energy. That the brief song ends before that promised freakout is the point: Kline is more interested in capturing that hopeful, anticipatory feeling — usually a comforting fiction — that everything will be all right once the weekend comes.” [“F.O.O.F.”] - New York Times
“Their latest preview of the record, “F.O.O.F.” (short for “Freak Out on Friday”) is a concise song about the way certain feelings are anything but. Over a breezy pop-rock instrumental accented by gently psychedelic guitars and keys, Kline marvels at the elasticity of time…the band’s own history folding in on itself. The song captures, on multiple levels, how the pandemic era has rewritten the rules of societal tension and release, complicating emotional regulation to the point that we each have to get reacquainted with who we really are.” [“F.O.O.F.”] - PASTE
Frankie Cosmos Inner World Peace
Tracklisting 1. Abigail 2. Aftershook 3. Fruit Stand 4. Magnetic Personality 5. Wayne 6. Sky Magnet 7. A Work Call 8. Empty Head 9. Fragments 10. Prolonging Babyhood 11. One Year Stand 12. F.O.O.F. 13. Street View 14. Spare the Guitar 15. Heed the Call
