Francis Alban Blake

“Incredible songwriting combined with a naturally enchanting soundscape, driven by strings and simple yet refined compositions.” – Music for the Misfits

King Forward Records and Frank Bond announce the release of the Francis Alban Blake single “Storm Behind a Window” in the US on February 15. Through gentle strumming and fragile interludes, the single binds melancholy to nature’s healing qualities. It’s off the album, Passages, due out April 15. A reflection of tragedy, there’s a brokenness to the song, like fragments of stained glass shattering into a prism of sound. To quote Francis Alban Blake, “When you feel broken, why wouldn’t you also sound broken? Read more

“Incredible songwriting combined with a naturally enchanting soundscape, driven by strings and simple yet refined compositions.” – Music for the Misfits

Francis Alban Blake’s album, Passages, isn’t just a music release. It’s a conjuring, a beckoning, a journey to what was lost. It’s the hope of King Forward Record’s Frank Bond that the album release on April 15 will return Francis Alban Blake from where he came.

After the disappearance of the fictional character, Frans de Blaak in 2018, Frank Bond (Alasca) was permitted by Blake’s family to finish the album he had been working on (published under his pseudonym Francis Alban Blake). The album is accompanied by a ritual of dances, spices, ringing of bells, and the drinking of tea and wine (contained in a ritual chest) with which Francis Alban Blake can be summoned.  Of course, the music can be enjoyed without the rituals, but the idea is that all of the elements together form a passage to a different experience of music and a passage into the “realm” of Francis Alban Blake.  Read more

Full of intensity and urgency, the song unravels a haunted codex inspired by the life of Leonardo Da Vinci. Painting a surreal Impressionist landscape, “Blisters” constructs a sonic showcase of meandering Moog synthesizer and off-beat xylophone that dart in between punchy drum syncopation and shimmering acoustic undertones. Bond intentionally kept the strange timing intact to echo the song’s meaning about giving in to primal artistic desires and inner conflict that shifts like the sands of an hourglass. Peeling away conceptual masks and layers, the song progresses through highs and lows along with a bass line that begins in solitary punctuation and grows to become a stanza-filling metronome. Read more

“Passages is a wonderful album that quickly got under my skin.” – Music That Needs Attention

After the disappearance of the fictional character, Frans de Blaak in 2018, Frank Bond (Alasca) was permitted by Blake’s family to finish the album he had been working on (published under his pseudonym Francis Alban Blake). A quirky exquisiteness infuses the songs through the mythical moods and vibes of rural Waterland, the Netherlands and an irreparable out-of-tune pump organ from 1863. Read more