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Aug 26, 2019 By Christopher Roberts Chromatics

Chromatics have shared a cover Jackson C. Frank’s “Dialogue (I Want to Be Alone),” changing the title to simply “I Want to Be Alone,” via a video for the track directed by the band’s Johnny Jewel. The original version appeared on Frank’s lone album, a self-titled affair from 1965 that was produced by Paul Simon. There’s no word if Chromatics’ version will be featured on their long delayed new album, Dear Tommy, or if it’s a standalone single. Watch the video below, followed by Frank’s original.

Although not widely known, Frank has a cult following and his songs have been covered by Simon & Garfunkel, Robin Pecknold, Colin Meloy, Mark Lanegan, Laura Marling, Bert Jansch, Nick Drake, and others. Frank had a tragic life, from surviving a fire in his elementary school at age 11 that killed 15 of his fellow students (including his girlfriend) and burned 50 percent of his body, which led to continuing health problems, to the death of his son to cystic fibrosis and the mental health issues he dealt with most of his life. He never recorded another album and ended up homeless and blinded in his left eye after being shot with a pellet gun by a child. He died of pneumonia and cardiac arrest in 1999, at the age of 56.

There is no word yet on when Dear Tommy will be released. Back in February they shared a video for a new song, “Time Rider” (which was one of our Songs of the Week) and announced a full North American tour. Then in May they shared a cover of Hole’s “Petals,” a song originally found on the Courtney Love-fronted band’s 1998 album Celebrity Skin. Chromatics’ version came from the soundtrack to the Netflix movie The Perfection, a horror/thriller starring Allison Williams (Girls, Get Out) as a cellist.

Chromatics were supposed to release Dear Tommy in 2015 (it was announced in December 2014). Then frontman Johnny Jewel had a near-death experience in Hawaii on Christmas Day 2015 and afterwards he destroyed all copies of Dear Tommy in order to re-record it to better capture the sound he was going for. It was then announced that it would come out last fall, but that never happened. Last year the band shared videos for the new songs “Black Walls” (which was one of our Songs of the Week) and “Blue Girl.”

Last year Jewel also released a whole separate album, Themes for Television, which was partly inspired by Twin Peaks. And the band surprise released a brand new EP, Camera, that was a vinyl-only release, there was no digital stream or download.

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