Fanchon – rsm SMiLE (2022)
With her single ‘Doses’, Fanchon brought empowering energy to nervous undertones as she looked at self-destructive behaviours. Now, she is teaming up with a new bandmate to take her music in a grungier direction with ‘rsm SMiLE’. This new sound is woven around lyrics that bring a stream of consciousness to the single as they consider controlling your mood and emotions in order to please other people.
The single started its life as a song idea from new bandmate Frazer Holloway that Fanchon grabbed and ran with. Fanchon and Holloway have known each other since university when they met through a mutual friend and worked together as musician and producer. Through various collaborations, they realised how similar their musical tastes were and soon they were writing songs together.
‘rsm SMiLE’ carefully builds with a dark undertone that bursts into grunge guitars. The darker and heavier sound of the melody pulses through you with the push of the guitars and drums. While the guitars cry out into the soundscape, the tampering off into the drums that thump and shiver is wonderful. The energy of the music is perfectly balanced as it has you pushing against the constraints of the world after toeing the line of containment. The movement of the music is a perfect accompaniment to the vocals and brings the new direction of Fanchon to your ears with a catchy ease.
After the initial pulse of guitar tones through the melody, Fanchon’s vocals enter with a delivery that is akin to thoughts sliding through your brain. The stream of consciousness style used for the lyrics brings the message of the track to vivid life. Through her performance, you can feel the urge to regulate yourself for those around you only to be confronted with the desire to be yourself. The emotions of her performance are easy to relate to as she brings a desire for emotional freedom to life. The crash of melody and vocals creates a sense of thoughts flickering through your brain that fills you with the urge to break free while also telling you to regulate yourself. If you have ever felt that you are stuck in your own head and need to break free, this track lets you know you are not alone in this.
Fanchon takes a grungier turn for ‘rsm SMiLE’ as they look at getting stuck in your head through the lyrical stream of consciousness. The melody has a grunge push to the guitars that spurs you into action only to close in around you. Fanchon’s vocals pick up this feeling perfectly as she gives lyrical life to the emotions and thoughts that many of us face.
Find out more about Fanchon on their website, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and Spotify.
