Hop Along's Frances Quinlan Shares New Single

Hop Along's Frances Quinlan has made a name for herself as one of the most prominent songwriters with one of the most distinct and inimitable voices in the indie rock space over the past decade. The Philadelphia-based musician recently announced her stunning solo debut. Likewise last month, sharing its first single "Rare Thing," and today she returns with a new song. Listen to "Now That I'm Back," featuring a gorgeous visualizer of Quinlan's own artwork.

Frances Quinlan on "Now That I'm Back":

I find it mystifying that my idea of love has aged and changed right alongside me. I'd always thought of love as something one is given, I didn't think much about my own capacity for love, for generosity. That's too bad, but now I understand a little better, I hope. At this point I think love is always there, it exists in the margins, one needs only to access it (though this often requires some struggle and at times some pain).

Compromise is often required for the survival of most relationships. I was thinking about my struggles with compromise for the sake of understanding someone outside myself. It's a long road, I think this song just portrays the start of it. Love is always around, even as great chunks of time drift from us and we inevitably find ourselves altered and wonder how we got to this place. I frighten myself with thoughts of love disappearing from my life, or of my hardening as a person. I've had some odd chapters over the last few years. I think this song came out of one of them.

Quinlan recently announced a headline tour in support of Likewise, and today she announces some tour updates. Mary Lattimore will support her on her headline dates, as well as perform with Quinlan during her sets. Frances has also added a tour date with Death Cab For Cutie's Ben Gibbard, and she will also perform at SXSW in March 2020.

While Hop Along began as Quinlan's solo project (originally titled Hop Along, Queen Ansleis), Likewise is Quinlan's debut under her own name. Recorded with bandmate Joe Reinhart at The Headroom, Likewise sees Quinlan tap into new sounds. "Working with Joe on this made me able to better see that the guitar is just one vehicle... there are so many others to explore," Quinlan says on this collaboration, which features synthesizers, digital beats, harps, strings, and a wide variety of keyboards. This newfound openness to sonic exploration echoes the sentiments of Likewise, which is a gorgeous rumination about the universal struggles of communication and connection between human beings. Likewise will be released on January 31st via Saddle Creek. The limited edition marbled sky blue and white vinyl with signed screen prints of Frances' artwork is already sold out, but limited edition emerald smog vinyl and standard black vinyl are still available.

Tracklisting

1. Piltdown Man

2. Your Reply

3. Rare Thing

4. Detroit Lake

5. A Secret

6. Went to LA

7. Lean

8. Now That I'm Back

9. Carry the Zero (Built To Spill cover)

Tour Dates

01/19/20 - Chicago, IL @ Tomorrow Never Knows Festival at Sleeping Village +

01/23/19 - Milwaukee, WI @ Pabst Theater *

03/01/20 - San Francisco, CA @ Noise Pop at Swedish American Music Hall #

03/03/20 - Portland, OR @ Doug Fir #

03/05/20 - Seattle, WA @ Columbia City Theater #

03/06/20 - Vancouver, BC @ The Fox Cabaret #

03/07/20 - Victoria, BC @ Copper Owl #

03/11/20 - Big Sur, CA @ Henry Miller Memorial Library #

03/12/20 - Los Angeles, CA @ Pico Union Project #

03/14/20 - San Diego, CA @ Casbah #

03/16/20-03/21/20 - Austin, TX @ SXSW

+ = support from Indigo De Souza

* = supporting Ben Gibbard

# = support from Mary Lattimore

"We should try again to talk," Frances Quinlan writes. It's not just a lyric-it's a suggestion, a warning, a plea, a wish. This request is woven throughout Likewise, her forthcoming solo album, amidst dramatically shifting motifs. Some are jubilant, some are dreamy and abstract, and a few are sinister, but within each dark void that Quinlan explores, there is a light peering back at her.

Quinlan is a voyaging songwriter. Throughout Likewise, she confronts what confounds her in the hopes that she will come out on the other side with a better sense of what it is to be human. She presents listeners with a complicated, albeit spirited vision of what it could mean to truly engage with another person, to give a small piece of oneself over to someone else without expectation. It's no easy task, in fact, it's likely to remain a lifelong effort.

The common thread that leads us through each chapter of Likewise is our narrator's sincere desire for open dialogue, with both the listeners and the subjects of her songs. But, even when that open dialogue isn't possible, and there is a missed connection, Quinlan's tone refrains from being one of despair. The sublime and rollicking "Your Reply" shows Quinlan attempting to engage with tenderness, even when met with a palpable silence. "There can be a one-sidedness to even the most loving and rewarding relationships," Quinlan says. "We will always have a part of ourselves we can't or don't know how to share. There are so many risks involved. Regardless, I think of this song as celebratory. If anything, the speaker is frustrated at coming so close to understanding another person completely, but perhaps only just missing the mark. But still what a gift that is, to come close."

"I think we often mistakenly interpret love as being a power struggle. You can't hear any other person but yourself with that structure in place. You get in your own way, you can't empathize." Likewise's artwork is Quinlan's own self-portrait, capturing the singer in this specific moment in time, as she stares wide-eyed, both fearful of, and eager to be seen. But she's ready to look directly into the darkness of the abyss, find the light and make the jump for human connection. "You don't realize what you're cheating other people out of by not being honest. I struggle with it, I'm sure I always will. We are torn between our love and our shame. But I think at least part of that comes from a desire to be better. That is a noble drive, one that makes me hopeful when I consider the possible future."

Put simply: "We should try again to talk."