New York’s self-styled ‘lofi jangle dream slacker bedroom pop’ artist JW Francis shares effervescent offering ‘I Wanna Be Your Basketball’, out today (September 14th) – the latest reveal from brand new album Dream House set for release January 27th via London-based label Sunday Best Recordings.
Speaking ahead of his single’s arrival, the enigmatic musician explained:
“The song is about a feeling I’ve been singing a lot about lately – the feeling of wanting to break out and be something else. I recorded the song and the video with my good friend and fellow artist Margaux”.
When JW isn’t writing songs about his own life or surreal imagery, he writes about other people – most notably around February when he writes valentines songs on his fans’ behalf. Dream House is built around this collection of glorious tracks written for other people. JW elaborates a little on the premise below:
“Every year, about 6 weeks before Valentine’s Day, I make the following post on social media:
“If you send me the name of your Valentine, and the reason you love them, I’ll write a song for them on your behalf.”
That is how Dream House was born, 3 years ago. Over the past three years, I have received over 300 requests from fans to write songs for their loved ones. All of the songs on Dream House come from this project, some of them have been reworked to speak more to the artist’s life, others have remained exactly as they were first written. Ultimately, this is an album about caring for others, and the way we express it.”
Written and recorded at the start of 2021 in NYC, Dream House takes cues from The Strokes, with hints of Lou Reed, however the project is still quintessential JW Francis. The blissful melodies and dreamy instrumentation perfectly fit the album’s title. JW will be using these sonic stylings to perform a special show re-imagining Bob Dylan and Woody Guthrie songs at the Woody Guthrie Center on September 29th.
Dream House follows the hugely well received WANDERKID and We Share a Similar Joy in proving that JW is the king of laid-back and effortlessly cool song-making. Released on 27th January, the album will be available on both cream and Green vinyl, as well as CD (pre-order here).
