Manchester-based singer-songwriter, Francis Lung is today sharing his buoyant new single, "Bad Hair Day" which arrives as the first taste of his forthcoming second album, Miracle which is set for release via Memphis Industries on 18 June 2021. The album was produced by Francis in collaboration with Brendan Williams (Dutch Uncles, Matthew Halsall, Kiran Leonard) and Robin Koob (who co-arranged and performed strings), recorded at the idyllic Giant Wafer studios in rural Wales in early 2020, and finished from his home studio.

"Bad Hair Day", which also opens the new album, marks a relentlessly catchy and deceptively upbeat ode to hangovers and missed connections. Sonically, the song arrives as a fusion of power-pop and sunny art-rock where angular guitars dart around glowing melodies and quickfire percussion. “I’ve been calling on you all night / But I never get through, I just get in the way” Francis laments; “I am a cloud in the sun’s light / Whatever I do, whatever I say.”

Miracle represents a period of introspection for Francis. Reflecting on struggles with mental health, substance (ab)use, and relationships, the record finds him facing his demons head-on, a cathartic process that largely contributed to his decision to give up alcohol. Despite its serious subject matter, Miracle, is far from austere in sound, marrying the cinematic, dreamlike quality of Francis’s earlier music, both solo and as a member of WU LYF, with the pared-back charm of great singer-songwriters like Judee Sill, Jeff Tweedy, and Elliott Smith (of whom Francis is a noted fan; he co-organised an Elliott Smith online tribute concert in June 2020, a fundraiser for LGBTQ+ charities which featured Smith covers by Marika Hackman, Blaenavon, Marissa Nadler, and others).

Miracle marks the first full-length release from Francis Lung since his critically acclaimed 2019 debut, A Dream Is U which found positive reviews from Uncut, MOJO, The Times, Paste Magazine, The Line of Best Fit, and more. Prior to that, Lung played as part of the Manchester group, WU LYF, a project which found a wealth of buzz in the early stages of the last decade, attaining Pitchfork's Best New Music award for Go Tell Fire To The Mountain which was also named in their Top 100 albums of the 2010s. Miracle emerges as a much more focused and deeply personal record for Lung, it's cohesive and generous in what it aims to give, allowing for something which is as vital as it is vulnerable. “I don’t want to be defined by my anxiety, my depression or any history of substance abuse,” Francis says, “but I do want to reach out to other people who have had similar experiences, especially if it’s in a way that helps them feel a little better. To me, this music is celebrating healing as much as it focuses on the darker sides of the human psyche.”

Music Video bad hair day - francis lung - YouTube

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