Originally from Raleigh, North Carolina, Asheville-based singer-songwriter Frances Eliza blends her love of songwriting with her passion for jazz, indie-folk, and pop music. Her jarring, unexpected lyrics and intricate melodies delve into the challenges of human relationships from the perspective of an independent-minded young woman and musician. Frances draws inspiration from artists such as Lucy Dacus, Lily Allen, Joni Mitchell, and Alice Phoebe Lou. Since Frances was 13, she has been featured at numerous fundraisers and rallies and has toured across NC and SC. She plays solo sets regularly at local and regional coffee houses and breweries, as well as performs as a lead jazz singer with various well acclaimed Asheville jazz musicians. In the past year, Frances, both solo and with her band has been performing her new and old material at various regional venues.
Frances recently graduated from the University of North Carolina of Asheville in the Spring of 2022 with a BFA in Jazz and Contemporary Music. While in studying music in university, her raw vocal timbre and her unique melodies first came to life in her debut EP Sleepwalking, released in late 2019 (currently only available on Bandcamp). Between Fall 2020 and Winter of 2022, she was recording her original material with Covington and Harris. Her EP No Longer Mine infuses jazz elements and original melodies into the raw imagery of human connection, hope, and loss. Jammerzine Magazine says “Frances Eliza’s second EP, No Longer Mine is a deeply personal collection of songs that blends folk, jazz, and indie influences into something distinct and unique. With lyrics that are raw and intimate, Frances is a storyteller that invites the listener into her private life as she shares and explores experiences of love, loss, and pain in the hopes that sharing in these experiences will bring some measure of comfort to those listeners.”
With great sincerity and rawness, her most recent single, “Notice Me,” addresses some of her experiences as a young woman in the world, and more specifically in the music industry. The lyrics are captivating and emotional, and intertwined with the instrumentation, pull listeners into an extremely cathartic and impassioned listening experience. Over the past year, budding producer and recording engineer, Jack St. Jean recorded and mixed “Notice Me,” ensuring that the emotional vulnerability and intensity of the lyrics shined through in his production style, which utilizes more sampling techniques. Jack’s main objective while working on “Notice Me” was to make sure that the instrumentation and samples used could drive each verse to build until the ultimate climactic lyric of the song, “I don’t want you to notice me.”