Chicago-based singer/songwriter Maria Jacobson, who records and performs as Fran, has shared her first proper single since her acclaimed 2019 debut album A Private Picture. “So Long” is out now on Fire Talk Records, accompanied by a self-co-directed, reality TV-inspired music video.
Where A Private Picture found Fran juggling rock (“So Surreal,” “Company”), Americana (“Time and Place,” “In My Own Time,” etc.) and even avant-garde sounds (“Now”), “So Long” feels more like a narrowing of sonic scope. Jacobson’s singing and songwriting shine over acoustic guitar and brushed percussion, as her lyrics outline an estranged relationship, of which she’s on the wrong side: “And I can’t hold on / With a rope so long / I wonder where you’ve gone.” Her emotional vulnerability is reinforced by the song’s sparse indie-folk instrumentation—she’s doing a lot with a little.
”‘So Long’ is about the gulfs that form in relationships: feeling distant emotionally and then trying to correct it with physical distance,” Jacobson explains in a statement. “It was written in a time of a lot of solo camping. The video is inspired by my favorite escape, Real Housewives.”
“So Long” is only Fran’s second release of any kind since A Private Picture—in 2020, she contributed a track called “Mother” to a Twosyllable Records Chicago cassette compilation.
Fran has a pair of hometown shows on the horizon, both at the Empty Bottle: She’ll play Thee Best Western Block Party on Oct. 1, and support Johanna Warren later in the month.
See the “So Long” video (dir. Nazli Dinçel, Britany Gunderson and Jacobson) and Fran’s tour dates below.
Fran Tour Dates:
October
01 – Chicago, IL @ Thee Best Western Block Party
19 – Chicago, IL @ Empty Bottle w/ Johanna Warren