Neil Frances is a duo from Los Angeles, composed of Jordan Feller and Marc Gilfry. We have been following them since a few years, and we are excited about their debut album “There Is No Neil Frances“. With some brilliants covers, many collaborations with the likes of Poolside and Benny Sings, and a live tour, we had many questions to ask them.
They are currently on tour and have a few more shows in the US and Canada in February, you can learn more here.
To begin, can you introduce yourselves? How did the Neil Frances project begin?
I’m Jordan one half of Neil Frances. It begun when Marc and I found ourselves at a crossroads or maybe you’d call it a dead end with our previous music projects. We linked up in LA and started writing songs that were meant to be for other people to sing. We shared a playlist of songs with a friend who then shared that playlist with a radio Dj in LA called Chris Douridas. He played one of the songs from that playlist on air and the rest is history.
How would you describe your music in 3 words?
For the weekend.
Can you introduce the concept behind your album?
It’s about an insignificant bug that finds themselves the diva of an intergalactic ball.
What does your production process look like?
I’m more of the producer and Marc is the singer but it’s much more than that. We have a couple of different methods when we write music. Sometimes I’ll write grooves and beats for Marc to sing over and other times Marc will have melodies and rough ideas that I’ll help him produce and get across the finish line.
We use real instruments, synthesizers, drum machines, and outboard recording gear to create our music.
You work with multiple collaborators, how do you usually meet them? What would be your dream collab?
It’s a different process every time. Sometimes we reach out to artists we’re fans of directly over IG. Other times people reach out to us or there’s hook ups from our label that we’re into.
A dream collab would be with Patrice Rushen.
You released brilliant covers of “Teardrops” and “Music Sounds Better With You”. Why did you choose these tracks, and can we expect other covers in the future?
“Music Sound Better With You” has been a long time favorite of mine to play when I DJ. I’m obsessed with French house.
I chose “Teardrops” as a Valentine’s Day present to my then girlfriend many years ago. We’re no longer together which is almost a perfect embodiment of the lyric in the song.
What are your projects for the coming months?
We just released our debut album “There is No Neil Frances” and we’re currently on our first headline tour around the USA. I think by the time we’re finished with this tour we’ll be ready to get back to recording new music.
Do you have any shows planned this year? Can you talk about your live setup?
Yes we have some festival dates lined up for after this current tour that we’re excited about. We have a full band which includes a drummer and bass player. I play keys, synths and samples while Marc sings and plays guitar. No tracks, everything you hear is being played live.
What are your top 3 songs at the moment?
Apart from music, what are your favorite hobbies?
I love playing tennis and cooking but not at the same time 🙂
Follow Neil Frances on: Spotify | Facebook | Instagram | Soundcloud