AOIFE NESSA FRANCES
ANNOUNCES NEW ALBUM:
‘PROTECTOR’
OUT 28 OCTOBER, VIA PARTISAN RECORDS

Irish artist Aoife Nessa Frances announces her forthcoming sophomore album Protector due 28th October via Partisan Records.

Along with the album’s announcement, Frances shares the lead single “Way To Say Goodbye” that she notes is, “a song about endings and a new beginning.” Coupled with the floating sonics are the dreamlike visuals directed by Ellius Grace portraying the journey of two men, one man being carried by another, as they traverse a lush meadow. “This video is an allegory, a physical journey which embodies the emotional ones that many of us have experienced in our lives,” Grace says, “This story is about realizing when someone you love needs to find their own path, no matter how much you want to help them get there.”

Aoife shares more about the meaning behind the song, ” ‘Way To Say Goodbye’ reflects the feelings when a relationship ends, the difficulty of letting something go. How fear of loneliness can make you hold on to something for too long after it no longer serves you. The process of writing this song was incredibly cathartic and healing.”

Protector was born in the spring of 2020, when Aoife packed up her things in Dublin and moved to rural County Clare on the west coast of Ireland. It was there, amidst the stillness, that she began to work on the songs that would become her second album: a personal, mystical journey of self- discovery through dislocation, transformation, and restoration. Recording took place in a small house in County Kerry, at the foothills of the Annascaul, with Brendan Jenkinson (producer, keys, bass, synth, clarinet), Brendan Doherty (drums), Ailbhe Nic Oireachtaigh (string arrangements) and Conor O’Brien (horn arrangements). The resulting body of work deftly juxtaposes golden hours and arguments, affection and alienation, and above all marks a crucial period of her life that was transformative and left her wiser.

In Aoife’s own words:
“Writing and recording this album was a spiritual experience. Iexperienced love for my family on a level I didn’t know existed, while slowly putting myself back together and watching the “protector” in me grow much bigger. ‘Protector’acknowledges the part of myself that steers me towards a brighter path.”

Protector follows Frances’ debut full-length album Land of No Junction, which was released in 2020 and features the stand-out songs “Blow Up” and “Here in the Dark.” Pitchfork wrote about the debut, “The Irish songwriter’s voice shines like a headlight in fog. Her debut abounds with deceptively serene serenades and surprising lyrical shifts.”

After performing at a couple of festivals this summer in Ireland and United Kingdom, Frances will be supporting Destroyer on tour this autumn across Europe and the UK before embarking on her headlining UK tour this November and December. Tickets availableHERE.

Check out “Way To Say Goodbye” and pre-order/save Protector above, see full tour routing below, and stay tuned for more from Aoife Nessa Frances coming very soon.

Aoife Nessa Frances – UK Live Dates

– NOVEMBER –

01 – Leeds, UK @ Brudenell Social Club
02 – Manchester, UK @ Castle Hotel
03 – Glasgow, UK @ Nice N Sleazy
04 – Todmorden, UK @ Golden Lion
05 – Nottingham, UK @ Bodega
06 – Bristol, UK @ Rough Trade
08 – London, UK @ Moth Club
09 – Brighton, UK @ Prince Albert
23 – Belfast, UK @ Ulster Sports

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Aoife Nessa Frances – Protector – Tracklisting
1. Way To Say Goodbye
2. This Still Life
3. Emptiness Follows
4. Chariot
5. Back To Earth
7. Only Child
8. Soft Lines
9. Day Out Of Time