Good Man, by Miles Francis

Good Man

by Miles Francis

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Deluxe 12" vinyl pressed on translucent vinyl. Gatefold jacket with full color interior w/ lyrics. Each vinyl comes in a "Good Man" tote bag with a personal handwritten note from Miles, trading cards, and a full sticker set.

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High bias-cassette, only 100 copies available! Each cassette comes in a fresh "Good Man" tote bag with a personal handwritten note from Miles, a sticker set, and Miles Francis trading cards.

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Full Digital Discography

13

releases

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Includes unlimited streaming via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality downloads of Good Man - Grandiose Edition, Romanticize It, Actor Now, Window Dressing, Good Man, B.O.Y., Good Man / Service / Popular, Popular (Future Generations Remix), and 5 more. , and , .

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1.	Introduction (Ear to the Wall) 00:40		buy track
2.	Service 02:35	lyrics	buy track
I can be your chaperone Take you to a party and leave you alone OK? Whatever it takes, whatever it takes I’ll do anything for you I’ll do anything for you I can be your sous chef Kitchen running smoothly so you’re not stressed OK? Whatever it takes, whatever it takes I’ll do anything for you I am at your service, at your beck and call I am at your service, giving you my call All for you, all for you I am at your service, at your beck and call I am at your service, giving you my call All for you, all for you
3.	Good Man 04:02	lyrics	buy track
Can I have this dance? I’m one for romance An air of streetwise With valedictorian eyes Are you impressed When I puff out my chest Well either way Gonna get myself a girlfriend Supply my own demand Find me a business partner and a plan I’m a man (he’s a man, he’s a good man) You’re a man (you’re a man, you’re a new man) We’re all men (we’re all men, yes we can) We’re all men Rebellious charm My first love was mom Evolved with the trend With all my man friends Are you impressed When I puff out my chest Well either way Gonna get myself a girlfriend Supply my own demand Find me a business partner and a plan I’m a man (he’s a man, he’s a good man) You’re a man (you’re a man, you’re a new man) We’re all men (we’re all men, yes we can) We’re all men, I’ll sing it again Gonna get myself a girlfriend I’m doing all I can Find me a business partner to call a friend I’m a man (he’s a man, he’s a good man) You’re a man (you’re a man, you’re a new man) We’re all men (we’re all men, yes we can) We’re all men (we’re all men, yes we can)
4.	Let Me Cry 03:14	lyrics	buy track
Pent up heart, father of stone Fortified with muscle, stuck in baritone Glimpses in mirrors, a shell he doesn’t recognize Reverberating with calls from a child inside Let me cry Like I did when I was five Before the well ran dry Manning up, winning the bread A pressure cooker, coming to a head Indoctrinated against moving his hips For fear that it could attract another man’s lips Let me cry Like I did when I was five Before the well ran dry A voice to listen to Left behind in your youth What kind of man were you Before the well ran dry
5.	Popular 03:28	lyrics	buy track
I’ve found what I live for I’ve found something to get me through the day The long day Loving is such a chore I get the same attention from those who hate That good hate I don’t ask for much Just your constant attention Throw what you got my way I live to be popular We all need something more Don’t you want to escape that tired brain Well that’s okay Don’t care for you Don’t really care for me Just need that rush from what you have to say, because I live to be popular In control, in control, they all know I do not thrive on much Just your constant attention I was just raised this way I live to be popular
6.	Help Me Up 05:55	lyrics	buy track
I’m drunk, and I’m tired of feeling this way But I can’t stand the weight, I’m not gonna change Shaken up, the same cycle every day I build it up ‘til it breaks down Help me up I’m one with the ground Nowhere but down for me Can you help me up I beg of you now Help me up Don’t let me down I’m done acting like I’ve got it all down Pretending I’m in control now that you’re gone Are you gone? Help me up I’m up against gravity Waiting for you to look back and see I’ve fallen Can you help me up I beg of you now Help me up Don’t let me down Help me up I’m on my knees Help me up You’re stronger than me Can you help me up I beg of you now Help me up Don’t let me down
7.	Interlude (Eye on the Door) 00:44		buy track
8.	Here For You 04:46	lyrics	buy track
Lonely, lonely Move into the sunlight Until the shadow leaves your face Stay here with me The buildings cover the sky Maybe someday we’ll live in space I need you tonight Lonely, lonely Are you lonely Cuz I’m lonely too On and on as if there’s some kind of right way On and on as if there’s something I could say To give us more time It’s you only, only If nothing else goes smoothly for me I need you in my life I will, I can I’ll be your friend Cuz I’m lonely too Not one, but two I’m here for you Here for you
9.	Look Away From Strangers 03:42	lyrics	buy track
Feet of clay But rash and headstrong I remain Clear as day Just how to overcompensate But my neck aches still And I know the drill to perish the thought What do you have, what do you give How do you love, how do you live Can you do better A quick retreat, an ill-conceived lashing out But something’s not right today Feet of clay, made of flaws You’re perfect just the way you are Would I hold this much anger If I had any will I talk and talk yet have no Communication skills I’ve never met my neighbors Too bad they’re all alone I look away from strangers Just fine within my zone No escape Confined to this old comfort zone It’s okay I’d much rather go it alone But if I could cry It’s worth a try to ask myself What do you have, what do you give How do you love, how do you live Can you do better I hear a drone An undertone rising up Another day No escape settle in It’s you and I against them Would I hold this much anger If I had any will I talk and talk yet have no Communication skills I’ve never met my neighbors Too bad they’re all alone I look away from strangers Just fine within my zone Where’s my congratulations Where’s my pat on the back I’ve made a few donations Can you cut me some slack I look away from strangers I look away from strangers I look away from strangers
10.	Nature 03:21	lyrics	buy track
Wave up ahead, all that I see I go red and let it wash over me In just a moment, I submit I cannot own it, I cannot quit Ego inflated Intoxicated Loaded with pride Must be my Nature Something in my nature Governs my behavior And I can’t see it through Until I’ve hurt you Swimming with my father I feel the current bring me closer to him Something in the water Has turned these green hands into phantom limbs Ego inflated Emasculated Loaded with pride Please forgive my Nature Something in my nature Governs my behavior And I can’t see it through Until I’ve hurt you
11.	Rainjacket 04:16	lyrics	buy track
Thought I was impervious Under control, rigid and bold You gave me that rainjacket With the protective shell You told it’d shield me well Well it’s getting to me now It’s getting to me now Told myself I was exempt I could weather the storm And keep myself warm Well I’ve worn out that rainjacket And now the shivers begin Maybe I’ll just stay in Cuz it’s getting to me now It’s getting to me now Father, it’s getting to me now The impenetrable doubt Has my thin skin breached Mother, you knew it all along But you let me carry on ‘Til my thin skin breached Yeah it’s getting to me now It’s getting to me now It’s getting here, oh it’s here It’s here
12.	Don't Fight Anymore 04:32	lyrics	buy track
Please don’t fight anymore Please don’t fight anymore I know by tomorrow you’ll be moving on But I cannot be sure And I’ve been wrong before about you Please don’t fight anymore Please don’t fight anymore I know by tomorrow you’ll be moving on But I cannot be sure And I’ve been wrong before about you I have my ear to the wall And my eye on the door I won’t leave here til I know What you’re fighting for I have my ear to the wall And I’m on my knees Don’t run away this time Don’t run Don’t run away this time Don’t run Please don’t sleep on the couch Please don’t sleep on the couch I know by tomorrow you’ll be back in bed But I can hardly sleep Knowing you’d rather be alone I have my ear to the wall And my eye on the door I won’t leave here til I know What you’re fighting for I have my ear to the wall And I’m on my knees Don’t run away this time Don’t run Don’t run away this time Don’t run Don’t run away this time Don’t run Don’t run away this time Don’t run

about

The full-length debut from Miles Francis, 'Good Man' is a work of gorgeous paradox: a nuanced exploration of masculinity and all its trappings, presented in a sound that’s joyfully unfettered. As the New York City-bred singer/songwriter/multi-instrumentalist reveals, the album’s endless complexity emerged from a period of unexpected and life-changing transformation. “Over the last few years I’d written all these songs interrogating manhood and male nature, but it took quarantine to really focus on what the songs were saying altogether,” Francis recalls. “The album became about showing a man going through a complete unraveling of their conditioning, and by the time I’d finished working on it I’d started to identify as non-binary.”

Produced by Francis and recorded in their longtime studio (located in the basement of the Greenwich Village building they grew up in), 'Good Man' arrives as the most visionary and elaborately realized output yet from a polymathic artist known for collaborating with the likes of Angélique Kidjo, Sharon Jones & The Dap-Kings, and Arcade Fire’s Will Butler. In dreaming up the album’s kaleidoscopic sound, Francis embraced an experimental process that involved elegantly merging their most formative influences. “I grew up with boy-band posters from floor to ceiling in my bedroom, and that music very much dominated my life when I was young,” they point out. “Later on I studied Afrobeat music and started playing with different groups in that world, which helped me to get to a place where I could be totally free in my musical expression. With this album I finally got to the point of bringing together these two worlds that made me who I am, even though they may seem unrelated.” Also naming shapeshifters like Prince and David Bowie among their essential touchstones, Francis ultimately alchemized those inspirations into a highly percussive form of art-pop, both lavishly orchestrated and visceral in impact.

Mainly recorded in solitude but featuring several guest musicians on strings, shekeres, background vocals, and horns, 'Good Man' takes its title from a spellbinding piece of avant-pop encompassing many of the album’s central themes (e.g., prototypically male impulses and anxieties, the gulf between one’s true nature and meticulously curated presentation). “That song came from conversations I’d had with men in my life who identify as progressive-minded, but who seemed to have some blind spots around the #MeToo movement,” says Francis. “I heard people bemoaning cancel culture or saying things like ‘You can’t even put your arm around a woman anymore’—which is so ridiculously shortsighted. The genesis of all these songs was that question of what it truly means to be a good man.”

Throughout 'Good Man,' Francis matches their incisive observation with a direct outpouring of feeling and, in many cases, fantastically offbeat humor. On the album’s effervescent lead single “Service,” they deliver a groove-heavy and pitch-perfect send-up of the over-the-top obsequiousness that pervades countless classic boy-band songs (“There’s this very impulsive offering of help and support, in a way that makes you wonder if there’s some other motive that’s not named in the lyrics,” Francis notes). Another track examining what they refer to as “the male anxious impulse,” “Popular” unfolds in frenetic rhythms and radiant background vocals courtesy of Lizzie Loveless and Lou Tides (aka Lizzie and Teeny Lieberson, formerly of TEEN). “Everyone indulges in having an ego and wanting to be recognized, but men seem particularly bent on the power element—whether it’s taking up space in a room or leading a country,” says Francis.

An album rooted in intense self-reflection, 'Good Man' also includes such moments as “Let Me Cry,” a deeply personal number illuminating Francis’s poetic sensibilities as a lyricist (“Indoctrinated against moving his hips/For fear that it could attract another man’s lips”). “As a kid I was really out there and just fully myself, but over time there was this boxing-in that started happening from all different directions,” says Francis. “‘Let Me Cry’ is about asking, ‘Can you break out of this box, and find your way back to that inner child again?’” One of 'Good Man’s' most confessional tracks, “Rainjacket” channels the quiet anguish and subtle power in accepting your own vulnerability. “It’s about dealing with your life in a real way, instead of just pushing forward and telling yourself everything’s fine,” says Francis. “It’s that moment of admitting, ‘No, you’re not fine—go see a therapist, work some shit out.’” And on “Don’t Fight Anymore,” 'Good Man' closes out with a raw and revelatory expression of surrender. “That song still pulls at me whenever I listen to it,” says Francis. “It’s about breaking down and begging for some sort of answer to all these questions, and then finally releasing the baggage and really looking at yourself for the first time. It’s incredibly sad in a lot of ways, but it’s also hopeful—like an awakening, or the ultimate letting go.”

As an artist indelibly informed by the kinetic energy and eclecticism of New York City, Francis drew immense inspiration from their hometown in the making of 'Good Man.' “The 2020 protest movement renewed my focus on what I stand for as a white, male-passing person, artist, and New Yorker. The most direct way I could be of help was to get a drum and go out to marches to keep a beat for protest leaders,” says Francis, who assisted a friend in the founding of Musicians United, a New York-based collective that supplies musicians for organizers. “In the beginning, the goal was to incorporate anti-racist work into my life, but the experiences I had and the people I met—particularly through the Black Trans Liberation/Stonewall Protests movement, led by Qween Jean and Joel Rivera—ended up giving me a new mirror to see myself in, to help me work to break free of my conditioning and truly find myself under the umbrellas of queerness and nonbinaryness.”

In bringing 'Good Man' to life, Francis worked in close collaboration with filmmaker/photographer Charles Billot to create such striking visuals as the album’s surreal cover art (a wonderfully warped photo that features their mother and father alongside their own doubled image). “The cover is what made me realize what this album’s really about,” says Francis. “It’s the idea of one person embodying all different types of people, and the idea that we don’t exist in a vacuum: we’re created by our families and our trauma and the whole world around us.” Equal parts playful and unsettling, that photo also echoes the palpable sense of abandon that Francis brought to every element of 'Good Man.' “When I’m in my studio, it feels like being completely free of the outside world, free of gender, free of everything except me,” says Francis. “I feel like I’m finally figuring out how to take that freedom beyond my musical expression and bring it into every aspect of my life. That’s what led me to nonbinaryness, and now I want to share that feeling with everybody.”

credits

released March 4, 2022

Written & produced by Miles Francis
Mixed by Andrew Lappin at Sunset Sound Recorders, LA
Mastered by Joe LaPorta at Sterling Sound
Additional engineering by David Plowman at Patchwork Sound, Toronto
Additional arrranging by Michael Harlen
Recorded in NYC (Cornelia Street Studio) and Gabriola Island (The Cabin)

Background vocal: Lizzie Loveless, Lou Tides
Shekeres: Lollise Mbi, Giancarlo Luiggi
Violins: Camellia Hartman, Meitar Forkosh
Viola: Midori Witkoski
Baritone saxophone: Maria Christina Eisen
Trumpet: Leif Arntzen

Film & photo: Charles Billot
Hair & makeup: Nina Carelli
Graphic design: The Collected Works
Content manager: Silverman Enterprises

This project has been made possible in part by FACTOR (The Foundation Assisting Canadian Talent on Recordings, with support from Canada's Private Radio Broadcasters) and the Government of Canada.

Thank you to my family in NY & Canada; to my parents, Kathy and Leif - this album is dedicated to you; to Lizzie <3 and Tony; to Charles Billot; to all of my friends & loved ones who have supported me through the years; to Teeny & the entire Lieberson family; to the Cornelia Street Sessions crew; to my teachers; to Will Butler, Antibalas, EMEFE & Superhuman Happiness; to all of the musicians who have played my songs onstage with me; to the Black Trans Liberation/Stonewall Protests/Musicians United communities; to Sound Mind Collective/Womxn Musicians Forum; to Steve Dalmer & Invasion Group, Joni Daniels @ Treefort Artists & AJ Tobey @ Rough Trade Publishing; to Tony Allen, my favorite drummer; and to you - thank you for listening.

All songs ℗© 2022 Miles Francis
All photos © Charles Billot

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about

Miles Francis New York, New York

Miles Francis is an artist, producer, drummer, songwriter, singer, musician, guitarist, mogul, tastemaker, performer, pop darling, influencer, actor, instrumentalist and multi-hyphenate born and raised in New York City. Miles has collaborated with Will Butler, Antibalas, Sharon Jones, Amber Mark, and Angelique Kidjo amongst others, and will release their debut album 'Good Man' on March 4, 2022. ... more

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