Frances Cone

Frances Cone is a Nashville based soulful indie band. For someone with deep familial roots in opera and classical music, founder Christina Cone seems preternaturally capable of writing songs focused on capturing the insane, unthinking fireworks of the human heart. Anxiety. Heartbreak. Transcendent love. The secrets of a diary so sacred and precious it only exists internally, every word an eyes-shut-tight whisper.

To create music like that, such as on their latest album, Late Riser, takes actual, emotional bravery. It takes a level of empathy and love that stays locked and unavailable in most people. Luckily, Christina and her multi-instrumentalist musical and life partner Andrew Doherty found each other in Brooklyn NY a few years ago and all the locks failed. They started creating what would become half of Late Riser. Between them there was just enough courage to hold hands and jump.

They landed in Nashville, TN and immediately found a home in the city’s thriving alternative scene. There were challenges and successes and lots of hard work but all along the songs kept coming. Music lovers at Noisey, Billboard, Stereogum, and Brooklyn Vegan among others began to take notice. NPR invited the band to perform at their Tiny Desk concert series and they garnered more than 12 million streams on Spotify.

The seed of a musical identity first hinted at on Cone’s 2013 release Come Back blossomed into something un-ignorable and meaningful. After years of patience and perseverance, Late Riser was finally finished. The record is a testament to what modern pop music is capable of when imbued with honesty and emotion so palpable you can taste it in your mouth. It’s not opera, and it’s not the result of any calculation or outside influence. It is pure feeling: watching a fireworks display through happy tears.