Off the back of the guitar-driven previous single ‘Lucy’, Melbourne’s rock n’ roll upstarts Franjapan have returned now to share their latest single ‘Stonewall’, combining moving rhythms with reverberating guitars and a frantic, pulsating urgency.
Reminiscent of a moment in time, such as mid-2000s-era The Wombats, Arctic Monkeys, and Catfish & The Bottlemen, ‘Stonewall’ is a resounding opportunity for Franjapan to showcase their musical diversity, with a fevered blend of dance-influenced tempos and raucous, jangly guitar riffs. Alongside ‘Stonewall’, the band are also announcing their EP ‘Learning Futures, set for release on Thursday, June 8th, which they will celebrate at Melbourne’s iconic The Espy on Friday, June 16th.
Self-produced and recorded as a labor of love in their home studio in Melbourne, Franjapan were able to combine together to track all instruments and vocals themselves, before linking up with Cam Trewin (Rufus Du Sol, Pierce Brothers, Kingswood) for mixing on ‘Stonewall’ and the EP, as well as Grammy award-winning engineer William Bowden (The Living End, Haiku Hands, Gotye) for mastering.
‘Stonewall’ is inspired by a coming together of egos, an unhinging of any relationship, constantly enforced by miscommunication and stonewalling - whether on a personal or professional level.
With bright pastels and quirky dance moves, Franjapan have today also released their accompanying video for ‘Stonewall’, capturing the band as they are naturally, the closest of friends in their own small family. Inspired by a drive lead guitarist Dennis Sehovic took whilst listening to ‘Stonewall’, the idea popped into his head and snowballed from there.
Speaking about the new single, Spencer Ward of the band explained, “Stonewall is aptly named after those encounters between two people where any ideas and conversation are refused solely on the grounds of one's ego . It can be typical in the last stages of a relationship where things have deteriorated to a point of loathing, or moreover between two artists trying to both convey a message they believe in with one or the other person not wanting to budge. To me, this song adopted the perspective of the former - where a relationship is becoming more unhinged, constantly enforced by miscommunication and stonewalling.”
The band continued, “The EP ‘Learning Futures’ was written through 2022, between a hatful of songs we tried and tested, shelving the ones that didn’t resonate the most with us. We were collectively thrilled with the final five to make the EP, having played them at shows throughout the year and receiving some exciting responses from the crowd - this is super reassuring for unreleased material.”
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