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Frances Cleave

Ethereal Enigma: Worship Me or Die – Frances Cleave

“Worship Me or Die” by Frances Cleave is a captivating and provocative track that grabs your attention right from the start. The title alone sets the stage for something intriguing, and the song delivers on its promise. The soft bass sets a hypnotic foundation, initially low and alone, drawing you into the world that Frances Cleave creates.

Cleave’s ethereal and beautiful voice takes center stage, adding an enchanting quality to the song. There’s a touch of resemblance to the band “Love Life,” but with a focus on stunning vocals rather than screaming. The minimalist approach works in favor of the song, allowing it to gradually build and unfold, captivating the listener with each passing moment.

“Worship Me or Die” is a track that will find resonance among the goth kids and those with a penchant for dark and atmospheric music. It possesses a certain allure and a mystical quality that draws you into its realm. Frances Cleave has created a piece that balances the delicate and the powerful, crafting an experience that resonates with both introspection and intensity.

With its thought-provoking title and the ethereal beauty of Frances Cleave’s vocals, “Worship Me or Die” is a track that demands attention. It’s a journey through shadows and emotions, leaving an indelible mark on the listener. This is a song that will linger in your mind long after the last note fades away.

Visit the haunted ‘Park of Endless Dreams II’ in Frances Cleave’s ethereally alchemic single

After beguiling us with her Southern Gothic sophomore single, Freedom vs. Loneliness, the Charleston singer-songwriter Frances Cleave perceptibly sharpened her magnetic songwriting chops for her third single, Park of Endless Dreams II.

The deeply confessional single gives an intimate view into Cleave’s relatable haunted psyche while bringing her audience’s emotions to the surface to taste the catharsis in the hazy Lynchian soundscape.

Traversing the pleasure-pain dichotomy through ethereal vocal lines, which sink into the eerie tones split by the minimalist synth lines, Park of Endless Dreams II is yet another testament to Cleave’s alchemic relationship to music. With her lyricality always pertaining to a sense of duality, Cleave is a rare artist who shows you both sides of the coin with her poetic works.

Park of Endless Dreams II was officially released on June 9th. Stream it on Spotify. 

Review by Amelia Vandergast

Frances Cleave explored the Pepsi and Coke of suffering with her Southern Gothic single, ‘Freedom vs. Loneliness’.

The sophomore single, Freedom vs Loneliness, from the indie songstress Frances Cleave, is an ethereally arrestive shoegazey Clannad-ESQUE exploration of sufferance. The 21-year-old singer-songwriter takes inspiration from her haunted city of Charleston, SC; it doesn’t get much more Southern Gothic than her latest single, which will drive you to breaking point in the presence of her harbingering vocal lines that effortlessly gel with the phantasmally reverb-soaked pensive synths and evocatively plucked acoustic guitar strings.

The lyrics subtly explore the triadic trauma imparted by religious trauma, sexualisation and objectification but there’s enough ambiguity within the lyricality for the listener to apply their own contexts of freedom and loneliness. It’s a poignant reminder that the grass isn’t always greener, especially when the ground is hallowed whichever way you turn.

We can’t wait to hear what else she has in the melancholic pipeline; her debut LP is due for release late 2023, following her next single, which is primed for release in May.

Freedom v Loneliness debuted on April 1. Stream it on Spotify.

Review by Amelia Vandergast