Francie Moon
Introducing Francie Moon; press photo courtesy of the artist.
Get to know New Jersey’s Melissa Lucciola who operates under the name Francie Moon who today premieres her self-titled EP ahead of tonight’s release show in Brooklyn at The Other Side with Elephant Fire, Sun Voyager & The Big Drops. A three song cycle recorded at Sparta, NJ’s Crud Studios along with Land Bridge Records/Rigbi home base; Lucciola brought an army with the rhythm section of Adam Pumilia, Richie Samartin, Adam Wall with an entire of backup singers that include (but not limited to) Jon Irizarry, Nicole Grogan, James Abbott & MothaBug’s Melissa Hagerty. The result is a trip into the current incarnation of what today’s scuzzy, fuzzy & fun Americana is all about. All we can say is this ain’t your parents’ boot-scooting boogie (but they might actually really dig this EP).
Francie Moon begins the self-titled EP with “Walked Away” that emphasizes the importance of retreating situations that you want nothing more to do with you. Executing very well textured arrangements of chords & percussion tempos, Melissa brings all the boisterous emotion & feeling of walking away “clear as day” with zero effs or regrets given. “West Virginia” kicks it class with a modern mentality & headstrong sensibility where Melissa & company bring about all the big-time swagger that seeks to take over any saloon dive venue of their choosing. The closing “Red Cloud Road” takes you out on the Francie Moon journey where you feel as if you are sharing a tour van with the group seeking a place to play, a place to rest, eat, in search of that ever elusive liberation of the spirit humankind calls freedom. Melissa shared the following exclusive introduction for the Francie Moon self-titled EP:
My friend Tyler came home from traveling in India the other day. While he was telling stories he told me he was once told to not travel for too long at a time because you need to give your spirit a chance to catch up. When he said that, it made a lot of sense to me, especially after traveling and touring for a couple of years. But I also found it true for myself in any life situation. I believe people really need to take time for themselves, time to learn about who they are and how to process emotions in a healthy way in order to “catch up” with themselves. For me, I learned that process and how to find myself through a lot of writing, singing and playing music. So a lot of my songs have really helped me, especially the songs on this EP, which are from big moments in my life where I needed to catch up with myself. Each song has brought me clarity about the situations they came from and I’m really thankful for them.
Francie Moon; photographed by Robert Huber.
We recorded this EP over quite a bit of time, but it was because I left to live in Georgia and travel around for almost a year. It made sense when I got back to add some fun stuff like guitar solos and background vocals to the recordings, so we spent some time doing that. This was also a really special experience for me because these are the first songs officially released with a band and I wanted to share that with everyone. Everything else released were recordings I have done by myself and not many people outside of NJ have heard me with a full band. This EP is a good look at what we’ve been up to, the sounds we’ve been making and where we’re going with it and I’m really, really excited for everyone to hear even more!
The self-titled Francie Moon EP is available now.
