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Long-time friends and collaborators Emily Mann and Wila Frank, known together as Paper Wings, dream up warm, pastoral folk songs suited to wandering through a forest or field, quiet contemplation, and long winding journeys. Furnished with delicate banjo and spellbinding harmonies so close you often can’t tell their voices apart, Frank & Mann deliver dynamic performances emboldened by the strength of their sincere songwriting. The duo have an uncommon ability to tastefully reference nostalgic sounds of American folk music while maintaining their own compelling style of artful and unpretentious lyricism. The strength and solitude one finds in the wilderness is a theme throughout their writing, and they lovingly transport listeners to open landscapes in which to find comfort and ask the questions which we all have in common.With roots in California and Oregon respectively, Mann & Frank met as fellow fiddle players attending music camps and festivals growing up. As teenagers, they developed their instrumental prowess by studying and performing with folk legends such as Alice Gerrard, Laurie Lewis, Tim O’Brien, Steve Earle, Aoife O’Donovan and Sarah Jarosz among others. It was during this time that they began writing and touring together, eventually making their way to Nashville where they recorded their debut album Paper Wings in 2017 and sophomore album Clementine in 2019. After garnering streaming success with their heartfelt track “Troubled Soul”, the duo hit the road opening for Avi Kaplan’s ‘I’ll Get By’ tour.
During the lockdowns of 2020, Frank & Mann began working on a third album. Partway through, they placed the project on hold to focus on other projects. The last song they had released before parting ways was single “Marigold,” a potent balm for the heart, telling of new beginnings and second chances. Perhaps this song was a prophecy of sorts, for in 2023 Frank & Mann reunited to finish the album, much to the delight of their fans. Over the course of four days, the duo captured their collection of songs in an intimate private studio outside of Nashville. This work of 12 tracks is titled Listen to the World Spin and came out March 15th, 2024.
On Listen to the World Spin, the duo’s songwriting flourishes in new ways while maintaining their intuitive sparseness and eloquence. Throughout the album, they invite us to take a step back to look at our lives as a landscape from above. Like co-passengers on a long voyage, the two old friends explore the textures of shifting relationships with ourselves, with each other, and with the world around us. A profound sense of solitude and yearning resonates throughout the album. On the title track, they implore “I feel so small, show me how to burn bright” and “I feel so alone, show me how to hold on”. This theme of seeking is echoed in album highlight “Funny Little World” with a series of questions: “What’s up with the pain in the world? Am I gonna be alright? Will I survive? What have I got myself into?”
In lieu of answers to their questions, Frank and Mann simply remind us throughout the album that we are not alone in our search for meaning and certainty. The journey is the destination in this collection of songs, along with the friendship and empathy found along the way. “These songs brought us back together, tugging at our hearts until we made them into something,” says Frank. “We needed these songs to guide and comfort us through the last few years, and we hope they’ll do the same for others.”
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