“Braambos Radio” is filled with various stories and themes that makes one think. The lyrics are deep and sometimes dark. Frans is a storyteller who sings with a speaking voice that can remind you of someone like Bob Dylan. The music is sometimes Blues, sometimes Country with just that little bit of Rock. Frans didn’t aim for a specific sound. “Each song brought its own herbs, spices or wild honey. As long as it’s authentic to the milieu of the story. The songs were born on a porch, around a campfire or in a garage. Over many years. CJ Bierman (who was with me in Jet Black Camaro at the time) and I co-wrote the songs. CJ came with a riff and then I’ll sing a melody over the top. The words didn’t come until the week we had to record (I put the ‘pro’ in ‘procrastination’). The songs were recorded in Ladysmith at Jo Ellis’ studio and a small town in the Klein Karoo sketched the perfect backdrop for the character of each of the songs to emerge. Mix it up with Jo Ellis’ timeless ear and soulful approach and there was Zen.”
With his debut album finally out, what does this moment mean for Frans? “When you create something, on your own or with others, you end up wanting it to see the light of day. Braambos Radio’s stories have been lying in the basement for a long time (hopefully they’ve aged nicely). I feel relieved that this wild horse can finally run free on the sound waves.”
Stream/listen to “Braambos Radio” album
Frans also explains why he called his deuut album “Braambos Radio” and what the album title means to him saying, “‘Braambos Radio’ refers first and foremost to the burning braambos in the old testament in the bible. That story in the beginning of Exodus about the bush that caught fire (but didn’t burn) and talks to Moses. According to the bible, it was YHWH (the Native American Tribes speak of Great Mystery when referring to ‘God’, I like it) that appeared to Moses with an important message or two. According to other interpretations, the burning braambos experience was a vision/hallucination that Moses saw because he smoked DMT. Either way, it’s an enigmatic, mystical, and psychedelic story that I love. ‘Braambos Radio’ is enigmatic, mystical and psychedelic stories broadcast from my landscape. Like the mirage on the horizon, things aren’t always as they promise to be. And the darkness of the Karoo night is more illuminated than sold. ‘Braambos Radio’ are stories from my landscape that I myself don’t always quite know what is truth or what is fiction. What is ‘hallucination’ or what is ‘reality’?”
Keep your eyes glued to Frans’s social media for the dates of the official “Braambos Radio” album release parties in Pretoria, Johannesburg and Cape Town:
