Premiere: Miles Francis Shares New Single “Good Man”
Announces New Album Good Man, Coming March 4th
Nov 10, 2021
Photography by Shervin Lainez
New York singer/songwriter Miles Francis makes boundary-pushing alt pop, inspired equally by the worlds of Afrobeat, ‘90s boy bands, and mercurial auteurs like Prince and David Bowie. They have been a hidden New York gem for years, collaborating with Sharon Jones, Tunde Adebimpe of TV on the Radio, and Will Butler of Arcade Fire. This year, they have been teasing toward an upcoming project with a pair of vibrant new singles, “Service” and “Popular,” and today they’ve finally shared details of their forthcoming debut record, Good Man, due out March 4th.
The record emerged from Francis’ own recent period of deconstruction and self-discovery. As they describe, “Over the last few years I’d written all these songs interrogating manhood and male nature, but it took quarantine to really focus on what the songs were saying altogether. The album became about showing a man going through a complete unraveling of their conditioning, and by the time I’d finished working on it I’d started to identify as non-binary.”
In addition to announcing the forthcoming record, Francis has also shared the album’s title track, premiering with Under the Radar.
“Good Man” is a thrumming pop gem, driven by pulsing synths and tinged by colorful bursts of strings and saxophone. Francis’ purported David Bowie influence shines through especially strong, with their vocals taking on a lavish drama as they confront the strutting entitlement imbued by patriarchy. Francis insists “Gonna get myself a girlfriend / Supply my own demand / Find me a business partner and a plan,” framing women as little more than a necessary commodity for manhood, all while promising that they’re a “good man.”
As Francis explains, “‘Good Man’ is about a particular patriarchal phenomenon that I’ve grown increasingly mindful of in the men around me and in myself too as a masc non-binary person. It’s sung by a man who preaches progressive values, who identifies as “one of the good ones” - yet he fails to recognize his perpetuation of patriarchal behavior in his own life. He’s a nice guy, loves his mom, is evolved, and stands for equality - but he still doesn’t recognize the privilege and entitlement he himself holds as he moves through the world. There are lots of outwardly ‘bad’ men out there, we all know that - but it’s the ones who claim their “good”-ness that can be particularly troublesome and capable of causing real harm. The songs on my album follow someone wrestling with their true nature, and at the heart of that process is the question of what ‘being a man’ even means.”
Check out the song, accompanying video, and album art below. Good Man is coming March 4th, but if in the meantime you’re looking for more from Miles Francis, they’re playing Brooklyn Bowl on November 13 with Afrobeat band Antibalas一tickets & more info here.
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