Their Reddit Indieheads AMA is tomorrow, Sep. 6th at 9:00 am PST/12:00 pm EST.
Frankie Cosmos’ fourth studio album, Close It Quietly is out tomorrow, Sep. 6th worldwide via Sub Pop Records. This album is a manifestation of the band’s collaborative spirit: Greta Kline and longtime bandmates Lauren Martin (synth), Luke Pyenson (drums), and Alex Bailey (bass) luxuriated in studio time with Gabe Wax, who engineered and co-produced the record with the band at Brooklyn’s Figure 8 Studios.
In celebration of the release of Close It Quietly, the band has shared a new video for “41st” which features tour footage from the bands Spring 2019 European tour with close friends, Ian Sweet. Watch it here or watch ithere.
Frankie Cosmos’ frontperson, Greta Kline will be camped out at her computer tomorrow, Sep. 6th starting at 9:00 AM PT/12:00 PM ET to answer any and all of your Frankie Cosmos queries. You can access the REDDIT r/indieheads AMA by clickinghere.
Close It Quietly is available from Sub Pop starting Friday, September 6th. LP preorders of the album through megamart.subpop.com and select independent retailers in North America, UK, and Europe will receive the limited Loser edition on blue pearlescent (North America) and opaque yellow (UK/EU) while supplies last.
The “Puppy” version is a Stuffed Animal CD version of the album. A cute stuffed dog acts as the packaging for a CD version of “Close It Quietly”. Super cute. Super limited!
Close it Quietly, available worldwide on September 6th via Sub Pop.
On September 6th, Sub Pop will release Frankie Cosmos’ fourth studio album, Close It Quietly. This album is a manifestation of the band’s collaborative spirit: Greta Kline and longtime bandmates Lauren Martin (synth), Luke Pyenson (drums), and Alex Bailey (bass) luxuriated in studio time with Gabe Wax, who engineered and co-produced the record with the band at Brooklyn’s Figure 8 Studios.
The bands latest video for “Wannago” features comedian Catherine Cohen and was directed by the fine folks at House of Nod. The video is centered around the band’s love for reality baking shows, specifically The Great British Bake Off. “I thought a baking competition theme would translate well to a music video. In some ways I think the lighthearted drama, tension, and release of that format mirrors the ebb and flow of emotions (lyrically and musically) in this song, and so it was kind of a natural fit” says drummer Luke Pyenson. You can watch the video for the song here and also here.
When asked about the song, Kline had this to share “Wannago is an older song that I thought would never come out. Every time we ever tried to arrange it we gave up or lied that we would come back to it later. It felt too hard, and I found some of the lyrics embarrassing. Then Alex encouraged us to give it another shot because he really loved the demo. We ended up all working together to turn this into a song that feels sparkly and distinct; and it’s really fun to play. I’ve accepted the cheesier lyrics as part of the youthful glow of the song, it feels very wide-eyed and is purely about love, distance, and life.”
Frankie Cosmos has announced a World Tour, splitting these shows into three legs. The first leg of dates will begin on September 18 in Boston, MA, and end on Sep. 29 in their hometown of New York City which will include an opening comedy set from “Wannago” video star Catherine Cohen. They will then head overseas beginning on Oct. 8th in Munich, Germany with shows in Prague, Amsterdam, and Paris, ending on Oct. 22nd in London. The final leg of dates will run from Oct 31st - Nov 16th with shows in Portland, Seattle, Vancouver, Los Angeles, and Berkeley. See below for a full list of shows.
Close It Quietly is now available for preorder from Sub Pop. LP preorders of the album through megamart.subpop.com and select independent retailers in North America, UK, and Europe will receive the limited Loser edition on blue pearlescent (North America) and opaque yellow (UK/EU) while supplies last.
World tour dates announced for September, October, and November.
On September 6th, Sub Pop will release Frankie Cosmos’ fourth studio album, Close It Quietly. This album is a manifestation of the band’s collaborative spirit: Greta Kline and longtime bandmates Lauren Martin (synth), Luke Pyenson (drums), and Alex Bailey (bass) luxuriated in studio time with Gabe Wax, who engineered and co-produced the record with the band at Brooklyn’s Figure 8 Studios.
Early this year, Frankie Cosmos released Haunted Items, a digital-only collection of new stripped-down songs for the piano which the band’s latest single, “Rings (On A Tree)”, first appeared. As the band’s frontwoman Greta Kline describes, it’s “a fictional tale of a breakup from the point of view of a mistress. After I wrote it I realized what it meant to me– even though I’ve never been a mistress, I related to the character from being in a relationship where my feelings weren’t prioritized. I originally wrote it just on piano and released the solo version that way. The band version really takes it somewhere else and felt very collaborative. I love everyone’s parts. Alex wrote the funky guitar part I play in the middle section, based on an idea Luke and Lauren verbalized.” You can listen to the band version of “Rings (On A Tree) above, and also by clicking here.
[Photo credit: Jackie Lee Young]
Frankie Cosmos Tour Dates + Ticket Links
Frankie Cosmos has announced a World Tour, splitting these shows into three legs. The first leg of dates will begin on September 18 in Boston, MA, and end on Sep. 29 in their hometown of New York City. They will then head overseas beginning on Oct. 8th in Munich, Germany with shows in Prague, Amsterdam, and Paris, ending on Oct. 22nd in London. The final leg of dates will run from Oct 31st - Nov 16th with shows in Portland, Seattle, Vancouver, Los Angeles, and Berkeley.
Sep. 18 - Boston, MA - Royale Sep. 19 - Burlington, VT - Arts Riot Sep. 20 - Montreal, QC - L’Astral Sep. 21 - Toronto, ON - Horseshoe Tavern Sep. 22 - Detroit, MI - Deluxx Fluxx Sep. 23 - Chicago, IL - Thalia Hall Sep. 25 - Columbus, OH - Ace of Cups Sep. 26 - Pittsburgh, PA - Spirit Hall Sep. 27 - Washington, DC - Black Cat Sep. 28 - Philadelphia, PA - PhilaMOCA Sep. 29 - New York, NY - Webster Hall Oct. 08 - Munich, DE - Heppel & Ettlich Oct. 09 - Vienna, AT - Chelsea Oct. 10 - Prague, CZ - Underdogs’ Oct. 11 - Cologne, DE - MTC Oct. 12 - Luxembourg, LU - Rotondes Oct. 13 - Amsterdam, NL - Bitterzoet Oct. 14 - Paris, FR - Badaboum Oct. 15 - Reims, FR - La Cartonnerie Oct. 16 - Brighton, UK - The Haunt Oct. 17 - Bristol, UK - Exchange Oct. 19 - Leeds, UK - Belgrave Music Hall Oct. 20 - Sheffield, UK - Delicious Clam (Sold Out) Oct. 21 - Manchester, UK - Night & Day Oct. 22 - London, UK - Islington Assembly Hall Oct. 31 - Portland, OR - Wonder Ballroom Nov. 01 - Tacoma, WA - Alma Mater Nov. 02 - Vancouver, BC - Hollywood Theatre Nov. 03 - Seattle, WA - Laser Dome @ Pacific Science Center Nov. 07 - Denver, CO - Bluebird Theater Nov. 08 - Denver, CO - Larimer Lounge Nov. 10 - Tucson, AZ - Hotel Congress Nov. 12 - Anaheim, CA - Chain Reaction Nov. 13 - San Diego, CA - Che Cafe Nov. 15 - Los Angeles, CA - 1720 Nov. 16 - Berkeley, CA - The UC Theatre
Close It Quietly is now available for preorder from Sub Pop. LP preorders of the album through the megamart.subpop.com and select independent retailers in North America, UK, and Europe will receive the limited Loser edition on blue pearlescent (North America) and opaque yellow (UK/EU) while supplies last.
On September 6th, Sub Pop will release Frankie Cosmos’ fourth studio album, Close It Quietly. This album is a manifestation of the band’s collaborative spirit: Greta Kline and longtime bandmates Lauren Martin (synth), Luke Pyenson (drums), and Alex Bailey (bass) luxuriated in studio time with Gabe Wax, who engineered and co-produced the record with the band.
Recording close to home — at Brooklyn’s Figure 8 Studios— grounded the band, and their process was enriched by working closely with Wax, whose intuition and attention to detail made the familiar unfamiliar and allowed the band to reshape their own contexts. Close It Quietly is a continual reframing of the known, taking the band’s trademark micro-universe and upending it, spilling outwards into a swirl of referentiality that’s a marked departure from earlier releases, imagining and reimagining motifs and sounds throughout the album.
The synergy of its collaboration is clear upon listening to the debut offering “Windows.” “This song takes place during the waiting period of healing, not knowing how to proceed or how to find the path to forgiveness. The inner versus the outer- learning to see yourself as part of the whole. For me the lyrics cover some of the slow movements of relationships, the shifts that occur in ways of thinking over time,” says frontperson Greta Kline. You can watch the new video for “Windows” which was directed by Eliza Doyle and Greta Kline above, and also here.
Frankie Cosmos has announced a World Tour, splitting these shows into three legs. The first leg of dates will begin on September 18 in Boston, MA, and end on Sep. 29 in their hometown of New York City. They will then head overseas beginning on Oct. 8th in Munich, Germany with shows in Prague, Amsterdam, and Paris, ending on Oct. 22nd in London. The final leg of dates will run from Oct 31st - Nov 16th with shows in Portland, Seattle, Vancouver, Los Angeles, and Berkeley. See below for a full list of shows.
Close It Quietly is now available for preorder from Sub Pop. LP preorders of the album through megamart.subpop.com and select independent retailers in North America, UK, and Europe will receive the limited Loser edition on blue pearlescent (North America) and opaque yellow (UK/EU) while supplies last.
Close It Quietly Tracklisting:
1. Moonsea 2. Cosmic Shop 3. 41st 4. So Blue 5. A Joke 6. Rings (On A Tree) 7. Actin’ Weird 8. Windows 9. Never Would 10. Self-destruct 11. Wannago 12. I’m It 13. Trunk Of A Tree 14. Last Season’s Textures 15. Even Though I Knew 16. UFO 17. Marbles 18. Did You Find 19. A Hit 20. With Great Purpose 21. This Swirling
Frankie Cosmos Tour dates: Sep. 18 - Boston, MA - Royale Sep. 19 - Burlington, VT - Arts Riot Sep. 20 - Montreal, QC - L’Astral Sep. 21 - Toronto, ON - Horseshoe Tavern Sep. 22 - Detroit, MI - Deluxx Fluxx Sep. 23 - Chicago, IL - Thalia Hall Sep. 25 - Columbus, OH - Ace of Cups Sep. 26 - Pittsburgh, PA - Spirit Hall Sep. 27 - Washington, DC - Black Cat Sep. 28 - Philadelphia, PA - PhilaMOCA Sep. 29 - New York, NY - Webster Hall Oct. 08 - Munich, DE - Heppel & Ettlich Oct. 09 - Vienna, AT - Chelsea Oct. 10 - Prague, CZ - Underdogs’ Oct. 11 - Cologne, DE - MTC Oct. 12 - Luxembourg, LU - Rotondes Oct. 13 - Amsterdam, NL - Bitterzoet Oct. 14 - Paris, FR - Badaboum Oct. 15 - Reims, FR - La Cartonnerie Oct. 16 - Brighton, UK - The Haunt Oct. 17 - Bristol, UK - Exchange Oct. 19 - Leeds, UK - Belgrave Music Hall Oct. 20 - Sheffield, UK - Delicious Clam Oct. 21 - Manchester, UK - Night & Day Oct. 22 - London, UK - Islington Assembly Hall Oct. 31 - Portland, OR - Wonder Ballroom Nov. 01 - Tacoma, WA - Alma Mater Nov. 02 - Vancouver, BC - Hollywood Theatre Nov. 03 - Seattle, WA - Laser Dome @ Pacific Science Center Nov. 07 - Denver, CO - Bluebird Theater Nov. 08 - Denver, CO - Larimer Lounge Nov. 10 - Tucson, AZ - Hotel Congress Nov. 12 - Anaheim, CA - Chain Reaction Nov. 13 - San Diego, CA - Che Cafe Nov. 15 - Los Angeles, CA - 1720 Nov. 16 - Berkeley, CA - The UC Theatre
[Photo credit: Jackie Lee Young]
More About Frankie Cosmos and ‘Close it Quietly’:
Close It Quietly is a continual reframing of the known. It’s like giving yourself a haircut or rearranging your room. You know your hair. You know your room. Here’s the same hair, the same room, seen again as something new. Close It Quietly takes the trademark Frankie Cosmos micro-universe and upends it, spilling outwards into a swirl of referentiality that’s a marked departure from earlier releases, imagining and reimagining motifs and sounds throughout the album. FC’s fourth studio release is a manifestation of the band’s collaborative spirit: Greta Kline and longtime bandmates Lauren Martin (synth), Luke Pyenson (drums), and Alex Bailey (bass) luxuriated in studio time with Gabe Wax, who engineered and co-produced the record with the band.
Recording close to home— at Brooklyn’s Figure 8 Studios— grounded the band, and their process was enriched by working closely with Wax, whose intuition and attention to detail made the familiar unfamiliar and allowed the band to reshape their own contexts. On opener “Moonsea,” an unaccompanied Greta begins, “The world is crumbling and I don’t have much to say.” Take that as a wink and a metonym for the whole album, as her signature vocals are joined by Alex’s ascending bassline and Lauren’s eddying synths, invoking a loungey take on Broadcast or Stereolab’s space-disco experimental pop. There’s much more than “not much” to say here, and it’s augmented and expanded by experimentation with synth patches, textures, and other recording nuances courtesy of Wax.
As the lineup has solidified into the most permanent expression of full-band Frankie Cosmos, the bandmates have felt more comfortable deviating from their default instruments and contributing bigger-picture ideas to continue pushing the sound forward. The synergy of its creation is clear upon listening: the multiple hands dipping and re-dipping into each song form a multifaceted whole. The band’s closeness and aesthetic consistency freed its members to take more musically-formal risks, notes Luke: “Everything will sound like Frankie Cosmos because Greta has such a distinct voice (literally and figuratively). We have so much latitude to experiment with the instrumental music, and this time around we really took advantage of that.”
The album forms its own vortex of reinvention that’s embodied through both the tracks themselves and the recording and arranging processes. “A Joke” curls in on itself, in word and indeed, a series of undercuts defining negative space: “It’s just a joke I wasn’t trying to tell;” “It wasn’t really a game;” “I do not know what I am for/I wasn’t really keeping score.” Inverting technology’s human mimicry, Luke impersonates a drum machine until the song’s end. “A Joke’s” tricks scratch at something bigger, a small song embodying the laughability of attempting to neatly organize or adhere to any particular role.
“Rings of a Tree” frees itself from its original context: released earlier this year on Greta’s solo piano album Haunted Items, she didn’t initially anticipate a major deviation; then, Luke says, “Lauren and I had the same arrangement idea without talking about it. Like, ‘let’s make this song funky. Let’s channel Orange Juice.’ We texted Greta and Alex before practice and Alex came in with a new guitar part that perfectly captured what Lauren and I heard in our heads.”
“I’m just fucking glad for my bubble/despite how often it is penetrated by evil” Greta sings on “Last Season’s Textures,” taking to task the accusation that young people cloister themselves in complacency: she’s quick to point to, thank, and feel suspicious of that sphere all at once. The song explores the feeling of safety in her realm; reasonable despair re: reality (“the news is excruciating”); and a quick admission that darkness isn’t something a liberal-minded social network can block out. Kline notes how the song is “partly about misogyny and internalized misogyny–moments where I’ve felt betrayed by what is meant to be a safe space.”
Without losing any intimacy of prior albums, Close it Quietly is different, is outer. The album functions as a benign doppelganger, a shadow self of past releases; where other Frankie Cosmos records shine brightest looking inward, Close it Quietly refracts the self into the world, and vice versa, miraculously echoing Thoreau’s assertion that “when I reflect, I find that there is other than me.”
Reflection–and refraction–isn’t tidy. “Flowers don’t grow/in an organized way/why should I?” Greta sings on “A Joke.” Growth isn’t linear. Change happens in circles. While recording the album, Alex says, “I closed my eyes a lot.” Stand in the sun, listen to Close it Quietly, and do the same.
Now Listen to Haunted Items #1 “Dancing” & “Tunnel”
Frankie Cosmos has announced the release of Haunted Items, a digital-only collection of new stripped-down songs for the piano. Over the next 4 weeks, Sub Pop will share songs from this collection weekly, beginning with the tracks “Dancing” and “Tunnel” which you can listen to today via all digital service providers. See below for a full list of songs.
Frontwoman Greta Kline says of the Haunted Items project: “items themselves are harmless unless they are infused with some kind of energy. These items are haunted by fear, consumerism, commitment, love, loss, the list goes on…I had some of these songs stuck inside me, mostly because I wrote a lot of them for piano and didn’t know how to record them, even as demos. My friend Elia gifted me with 10 hours of recording time with Mark Yoshizumi, and this winter felt like the perfect opportunity to get these out of my system and haunt you with them instead. I have always been afraid of items being haunted, but when you think about it, every item is, right?”
Haunted Items Track and release schedule on DSP’s:
3/13 - Haunted Items #1 “Dancing” “Tunnel”
3/20 - Haunted Items #2 “February” “In The World”
3/27 - Haunted Items #3 “String” “Eternal”
4/3 - Haunted Items #4 “Rings on a Tree” “Allowed” “Today’s Special”
Frankie Cosmos will return to the UK and mainland Europe for a short tour beginning April 1st with a show at EartH in London. The new dates will continue throughout the month with performances in Stockholm, Oslo, Copenhagen, Berlin, Lisbon, Madrid, Barcelona, and Bologna. Frankie Cosmos will then return to the U.S. for an appearance at Austin, TX-based radio station KVRX Festival.
Apr. 01 - London, UK- EartH (AKA Hackney Arts Centre) Apr. 03 - Stockholm, SE - Melodybox Apr. 04 - Gothenborg, SE - Pustervik Arp. 05 - Oslo, NO - John Dee Apr. 06 - Aarhus - DK - TAPE Apr. 07 - Copenhagen, DK - Lille Vega Apr. 09 - Berlin, DE - Musik & Frieden Apr. 10 - Heidlberg, DE - Karlstorbahnhof Apr. 12 - Gipuzkoa, ES - Dabadaba, Donostia Apr. 13 - A Coruña, ES - Garufa Club Room Apr. 15 - Lisbon, PT - ZDB Gallery Apr. 16 - Madrid, ES - El Sol Apr. 17 - Barcelona, ES - Razzmatazz Apr. 19 - Bologna, IT - Covo Club May. 11 - Austin, TX- KVRX Fest (w/ Fat Tony, Video Age, Palm and more)
Road warriorsFrankie Cosmos have spent the better part of 2018 on tour in support of their latest and greatest, Vessel, available now worldwide via Sub Pop. The band has announced a run of European shows throughout April with Hardly Art’s IAN SWEETsupporting.
Dates will begin in London on April 1st and have the bands traveling through Stockholm, Oslo, Copenhagen, Berlin, Lisbon, Madrid, and Barcelona, ending on April 19th in Bologna, Italy. Tickets will go on-sale (links here) tomorrow at 10AM GMT:
Apr. 01 - London, UK - EartH Apr. 03 - Stockholm, SE - Melodybox * Apr. 04 - Gothenburg, SE - Pustervik * Apr. 05 - Oslo, NO - John Dee * Apr. 06 - Aarhus, DK - Tape * Apr 07 - Copenhagen, DK - Lille Vega * Apr. 09 - Berlin, DE - Musik & Frieden Apr.10 - Heidelberg, DE - Karlstorbahnhof, * Apr.12 - San Sebastian, ES - Dabadaba * Apr.13 - A Coruna, ES -Garufa Club* Apr.15 - Lisbon, PT - ZDB * Apr.16 - Madrid, ES - El Sol * Apr.17 - Barcelona, ES - Razzmatazz 3 * Apr.19 - Bologna, IT - Covo Club*
* w/ Ian Sweet
Frankie Cosmos is touring in support of their critically acclaimed Sub Pop debut, Vesselwhich has received raves reviews from such outlets as The New York Times, Pitchfork, Q, NPR, Loud and Quiet.
What “The People” are saying about Frankie Cosmos:
“Frankie Cosmos know how good it feels to acknowledge how epically, infuriatingly, beautifully helpless love can be.” [“Being Alive” Best New Track Review] - Pitchfork
“’Being Alive’ flutters like a heartbeat, careening in and out of heavy motion and rest.” [“Being Alive” Track Review] - Stereogum
“The song has Kline wandering through apathy, thinking about the things she could’ve done if she’d had the energy or will, poking at her subconscious.” [“Jesse” Track review] - Noisey
“Kline has a keen, quick grip on the back-and-forth of modern uncertainty, swinging high from triumph to low-lit sorrow. It’s why she’s such a comfort to return to.” - 8/10 - Crack
“[Kline’s] anti-folk spirit remains alive on these 18 tracks, which range from 30-second sonic haikus to fully-fledged ’90s indie-pop duets.” - 7/10 Loud and Quiet
“While intimacy has found a large pop audience in the social-media era […] Kline’s disclosures are striking because they feel genuinely homespun.” - 4/5 Q Magazine
“Slight but powerful indie-pop” / “There’s great charm to these yearning tunes” - 8/10 Uncut
“Completely enchanting, it’s further proof that the band are one of the best” - Wonderland
