H.R. Frank

Friends of the Studio Feature for June: H.R. Frank!

I first encountered Huw on Threads and we became fast friends. H.R. Frank celebrates U.K. Garage Punk spirit in the most glorious way - lots of cacophonous fun layered with unapologetic lyrics that sometimes take you by surprise and punch you right in the gut. It's a little bit angry, a little bit sad, and a whole lot noisy. My kind of music - I think he's awesome.

One day we were chatting about where his inspiration comes from and he made an off-hand comment about being tone deaf. It made me laugh (as he usually does), but also gave me pause. I started to wonder: If people could see how beautiful these sounds are, would they understand them more when they listen? So, I hatched a plan and pitched it to Huw. 

The idea: Set up a glass plate with a solution that crystallizes as the solvent evaporates (think epsom salts or vitamin C). We would set the glass plate on a speaker playing an H.R. Frank song on repeat. Let the crystals grow, take macro photos under polarization to capture all the colors, then compare to a control grown in silence. Huw was all about it, so I set to work.

The first song we tried was I'm Walking with b-alanine, an amino acid popular with the strength training crowd. I liked this choice because the lyrics tell a story of frustration, but also strength. It takes guts to walk away from the ish that irritates you. I wanted to honor that with these crystals and see what would happen. I left the plate on the speaker and put the song on repeat for 6hrs. 

We were blown away.

The control was pretty dim compared to the crystals grown to the music. The song plate was vibrant (thanks to the variety of vibrations in the music) - and they naturally grew in the form of a skull! Luck, I'm sure, but the vibes were certainly working for us! B-alanine creates crystals that are sharp and layered and easy to admire, just like the spirit of the song. I took the photos, added some lyrics for context, Huw suggested the ace of spades, and we celebrated a successful experiment. 

I grew five more plates for five different songs. All of them speak, in some way, to the lyrics and spirit of the music. 

(Top to Bottom): Crumbs with Aspirin, Drifting with Caffeine, No Need with Vitamin C, Time Has Come with Salicylic Acid, and Clown with Epsom Salts

This project continues! A magazine has shown interest, so we'll see where that goes. Eventually, though, I'd like to see them (and many more) in a zine to accompany his first full length album release. I think it would be a great way to remind listeners that what our ears hear in one form, our eyes see in another. The same amazing sounds telling two stories - what a cool way to connect with music. 

You can listen to H.R. Frank yourself on Bandcamp or follow @hr_frank on Threads or IG. He's a gem!