Adam French is a London based singer songwriter from Congleton, near Manchester. He got his big break and mass recognition from the media back in 2013 when he independently decided to tour Africa - where he wrote his first big hit ‘Ivory’.
French started to write and produce music in his early teens, during our interview he described himself as an inquisitive kid.
“I was an inquisitive kid, so pretty early on I was keen to learn how to play as many different instruments as possible. Guitar came first, my mum couldn't afford lessons when I started out, so I just taught myself by copying what I heard on the radio, mimicking simple melodies”.
‘The Back foot and the rapture’ is French’s latest Album - It’s a daring and redolent take on what a rock album should sound like, and ever since its release his fanbase has been growing rapidly.
His single ‘My addiction’ was even featured in a couple of episodes of the Netflix show ‘Dynasty’. When asked about the process behind the writing and production of songs such as ‘Weightless’ ‘My Addiction’ and ‘The Only Living Thing’ this is what he had to say:
“I think this first record was just about honesty. Weightless is literally just a live recording of me in the studio, performing the song. About as stripped back as it gets. I remember my producer Rich, pushing me to record it live because he'd seen it at gigs and felt as though it needed to be about me and the guitar, back to basics. "
"A lot of the record is about love, and the challenges it's often laced with. It's important to write about something you understand. There are however several other topics touched upon. 'Ivory' is about poaching from an elephant's perspective, 'Coco' is about the cute names we give to drugs before they ruin lives and 'More To Life' is a track about optimism and change”.
During our interview French stated that he likes to straddle with a few music genres- his ability to comfortably juggle with the stereotypical notion and common understanding of what rock and pop should sound like is very apparent in this album. It’s soulful, moving and daring.
“I'd like to think my music straddles a few genres. I love composers like Hans Zimmer, Nils Frahm & Ludovico Einaudi, so I think there's definitely a cinematic quality and influence in terms of arrangement, but then I love Jeff Buckley, Queens of The Stone Age, John Lee Hooker and Burial. There's a bit of everything in there I guess”
“ Ecstasy, emotional, real” Is how Adam French described the feeling of performing live.
’Ivory’ is one of his most recognised songs and as mentioned earlier, he wrote it while on tour in Africa, where he got to experience things that moved and inspired him.
“My dad and his partner were out in Botswana working with the health ministry on blindness prevention in kids, a friend of theirs took one of my old demo's to national radio stations RB 1 & 2. The station loved it and started playing my songs, from that we had a guy get in touch about me coming over to play some small shows because he thought he could fill the rooms based on the tracks"
"Being played on the radio. At the time I was playing to bar staff in the UK and getting pretty disheartened in doing so... A trip to southern Africa for a mini tour was incredibly welcome. On the back end of the gigs we went off on safari for a couple of weeks, during which I wrote ‘Ivory’ "
French is working on releasing some tour dates towards the end of the year - to keep yourself updated on everything this very talented man is up to , follow his instagram @adamfrenchuk and check out his album ‘The Back foot and the rapture’, now available on Spotify, Apple music, Amazon, your local record store, and on www.adamfrench.co.uk .
Words by Sofia Mendes for 'MITA' magazine.
Comments