With just a handful of gigs to their name, Marie Franc have been making ripples. They are set to headline The Grayston Unity in March having gone down a storm at the same venue last year supporting Dilettante. Grayston owner and promoter Michael Ainsworth is a huge fan.
They are now a fully-committed five-piece, with Travis and Kez on guitar, Dan on drums and new recruit Ben on bass, but the essential beginnings of the band – and, indeed, the name – lie firmly with singer-songwriter, Rachel Maria Francesca.
“I was about 19, at university. One night, I had no money, so I went out busking in Manchester and ended up getting 50 quid. It was loads of money. I was buzzing because I only went out to get some cigarettes. So that gave me the confidence to do it. That’s when I started this whole journey.”
Over the next few years, carving out her own style through solo shows, Rachel drew on a spectrum of influences, not least her love of folk, both old and new.
“Yeah, I like really traditional Irish folk music. And then people like Joanna Newsom, she is a huge inspiration to me. Joni Mitchell, too. Karen Dalton. But when I was little, my dad had a huge record collection. I remember fingering through it as you do and stumbling on people like Fugazi and Sam Cooke.”
The most melodic of those influences permeate through Marie Franc’s live set. Emotive, incisive vocal narratives come with swash and swagger. In Rachel, there’s the jazz ballroom chanteuse sheen of an Alice Phoebe Lou or Weyes Blood, and yet the country-pop bedroom sincerity and intimacy of a Faye Webster, Merce Lemon or Allegra Krieger. Buttery warm but sharp as ice.
As to the band, you’ll find tinges of country, pop and jazz encasing the folk centre. The spacious, lush laidback instrumentation creates a bed of soulful ambience that is reminiscent of Foxygen or BADBADNOTGOOD. Or perhaps the slow-mo indie shapes of Mac DeMarco.
“The first five years of being a musician, it was mostly just me and my guitar. And I’m shit at playing guitar. It came together as a band about a year and a half ago. Since having the guys, it’s completely elevated the music that I was originally writing and taken it in completely new directions.”
Diving into the band’s five tracks currently on Spotify, you’ll see a sizable difference between the first three – Warthog, Beatrice and Petal, released in 2022 as the Birthday EP – and the most recent two, Alice and Dirty Hands, which were recorded in 2024 with the new line-up.
“The sound is a lot more full now. It’s a lot more confident.”
Their latest track Alice is a fire-dancing, hypnotic delicacy. The voice is unquestionably the star attraction, flying kite-like, free, excited and brave, but there’s also a sumptuous if understated belly of soft soul too.
Dirty Hands is arguably their strongest release to date. The song skips with ease between overt pop beauty and brooding country-folk mystery. It’s made of gliding hooks and a confidently stark ‘70s-style arrangement.
There’s more of that to come. Marie Franc are planning to hit the studio at Brunswick Mill in April to record an EP. The band headline The Grayston Unity on Friday 21st March. For info on new releases and gigs, follow @mariefrancmusic.
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