THE FROWN
Exclusively managed by Salt Management
Conceived last year in Cape Town as an idea in the mind of vocalist Eve Rakow, the Frown came into existence when Rakow joined forces with Double Adapter/Cutout Collective musician Tim Apter. The band is a playground for the two to express themselves in a musical landscape that is complex, simple, organic and synthesized all at the same time.
Pulling influence from artists such as Fever Ray, Coco Rosie, Bjork, and Salem, The Frown is a curious mixture of folk and electronica - a sound people have dubbed "Euphoria-Core" for its heady mix of soaring strings and orchestration, low tempo colliding beats, dark and menacing basslines and the fragile yet commanding vocals of Rakow. This is a band that is at home combining the harsher elements of electro - the wobble bass of dubstep, the sliced drums of electrohouse - with traditional instrumentation in the form of violin, cello, trumpet, glockenspiel and more. Together, the sound created speaks of duality - a world that is alive and yet somehow clinical, and inside it, a lost and wandering Eve.
The Frown is more than just music though. Rakow, trained in theatre and a master of theatricality, believes strongly in the visual impact of a show - performances are always visually mesmerising, and often feature costumes, props, visuals, and a sense of otherworldlyness. Joined live by Max Lehr on drums, and Caroline Leisegang on cello, the Frown turns into a 4 headed hydra - slow moving, deliberate, hypnotic and rhythmic.
EP:
The debut Frown EP is entitled A-men. It is a 5 track disc featuring the first songs written by Rakow and Apter and is very much the musical first chapter for the band. It will be followed later in the year by a remix selection featuring various DJ's from around the planet, and then a second part to the EP...
The album was recorded and produced by Tim Apter in Johannesburg, and mixed and mastered by Chris Brink at Audio Fury in London via a complicated process of skype, facebook and dropbox! An interesting project! There are also 2 videos in production at the moment, one for The National, and another for This Is How The World Ends - these will be released almost back to back. The first EP is being put out by HOWL Records - brainchild of Desmond and the Tutus singer Shane Durrant.
What to expect in 2011: The Frown is creating a documentary about the South African electronica culture - Rakow, in collaboration with several other filmmakers, has been filming the band from day 1... the documentary will be an interesting look into the trajectory of a band from nothing to (hopefully) something...
The Frown is creating a graphic novel in collaboration with artist Derrick Pitts - the novel tells the story of the characters in the Frown - a dethroned king drumming a march for an invisible army, a man in a rabbit mask that survived the end of the world, and the enigmatic Rakow - a dictator, a mystery, a muse, and a glitch in the fabric of the universe.
Collaboration: The Frown is all about collab. To date, we have worked with Liam Lynch, Chris Saunders and Justin McGee extensively for the photo shoots, DJ Casioheart on the styling of the band, Alastair Thomas of Shortstraw helped co-write the lyrics to "Robyn" and Fonda wrote the piano melody for the "Rockstar" Cover. Shane Durrant of Desmond and the Tutus putting out the bands first EP on HOWL records which has a distribution deal in Japan. The Frown Also collaborates with fine artists. Printmaker Niall Bingham, famed for his work with artists such as William Kentridge and Dianne Victor created the Album artwork for the bands debut Ep a-men and has also created a FROWN text.
