After 2021’s In Plain Sight veered (often wonderfully) toward efficient, tightly wound power pop, Neal Francis is back in his element on the new Return To Zero (ATO), unleashing the funk in a feverish embrace of ’70s-era soul and R&B. Co-produced by Francis and regular collaborator Sergio Rios, the album was recorded live in the studio with members of the band he’s been touring with almost nonstop for three years. And while he still knows his way around a hook, Francis gives the arrangements some air as he finds his way to the dancefloor. In Plain Sight was more cerebral. Return To Zero aims for the groin.
Francis fleshes out each track below.
—Hobart Rowland
1) “Already Gone”
“This is a tune I wrote at the piano with my friend Elliot Bergman. My songs typically don’t have a cohesive narrative, so we tried to tell a story of a relationship’s last dance, including the familiar trope of a blindsided lover putting the pieces back together while alone in a hotel room the next day. I spend a lot of time alone in hotels, so it was easy to conjure that feeling. With the production on this one, I was aiming for late-’70s FM pop like the Eagles, Elton John and ELO. Kellen Boersma arranged the killer ‘guitarmony’ at the top of the song.”
2) “Don’t Wait” (Feat. Say She She)
“This song had a very different groove in my demo. The locked bass and guitar part featured throughout got rearranged by Mike Starr and Kellen Boersma, and it really drives the song. I had a chance to arrange strings for the first time on this one, too. Of all the songs on the record, I feel like this one comes closest to achieving the sound I was searching for. I drew inspiration from George Clinton, Chic, Roy Ayers and Chicago’s own Universal Togetherness Band.”
3) Need You Again” (Feat. Say She She)
“This is about being away from your lover—the physical sensation of missing someone when you haven’t seen them for a while. I was out late dancing in Chicago one night and came to the studio lacking sleep the next day. The groove is influenced by George Clinton, Hamilton Bohannon and other late-’70s proto-house music.”
4) “150 More Times”
“I wrote this one with Elliot one fine afternoon in L.A. I was inspired to make a little boogie-rock tune when I heard a loop on his Optigan—an instrument from the ’60s that’s like a primitive sampler. The lyrics are about having an unhealthy attachment to someone, obsessing over them and contacting them over and over, contrary to the advice of friends, family and therapists. Glad to say I’ve never had any problems in that department … Sheesh, sounds terrible, right?”
5) “What’s Left Of Me”
“We knocked this out in a practice room at Chicago’s Fine Arts Building on Michigan Avenue—just me and (Nashville-based songwriter) Chris Gelbuda, a guitar and a grand piano. We were aiming for something that sounded like Jeff Lynne, and I think we got close enough. It existed solely as a piano/vocal iPhone voice memo until the L.A. recording sessions. It was the last song we tracked. I tracked the vocals at home in Chicago and did the Moog parts there as well. Daniel Villarreal added some last-minute percussion to the track. I live in his old apartment. Thanks, Daniel!”
6) “Broken Glass” (Feat. Say She She)
“This tune was born out of a jam session with Michael Shuman. He was on drums, and I was playing bass. Michael is a great producer, and it was the first time I’d met him. I left with a complete song and a killer demo. The lyrics were based on some freeform material I’d written down about a sub/dom relationship and taking directions in the bedroom.”
7) “Back It Up”
“I wanted to make something that was purely fun, danceable and light. I built up a little groove, and the lyrics to the hook came first. It took a while to arrange the song and get the lyrics feeling good, but there’s not really much to it—just a fun sendup of the disco stuff I like, plus David Bowie, Electric Light Orchestra, Brian Ferry, Ian Dury.”
8) “Dance Through Life”
“This came out of a raft of demos I completed with Sergio Rios in 2022. It was one of the strongest instrumental ideas from that session, but it took a while to get the lyrics. I kept editing them on tour. The hook at the end of the song came to me while in the shower. At the time, I had been listening to a lot of Alan Watts’ talks, so it bears that influence thematically.”
9) “Dirty Little Secret (feat. Carlile)”
“My friend Carlile and I wrote this song together during the pandemic. I had an idea for the hook, and she offered up some poetry she’d written down in her notebook for the verses. For a while, it existed as a demo with piano, MS-20 and drums. Lots of those elements made it into the final version of the song.”
10) “Can’t Get Enough”
“A collaboration with my friend Blake Rhein. He and I recorded all the instruments—apart from the strings, which were performed by Oliver Hill. On this song, I had another chance to arrange for violins, which I really enjoyed. I hope to incorporate more orchestral instruments into my future productions. Rhea (a.k.a. Ashley Otis) elevated the entire song with her vocal performance and gave it even more of the Roy Ayers feel I was seeking.”
11) “Return To Zero”
“Originally, this track was meant to serve as an outro to ‘What’s Left Of Me,’ but it got shuffled to the back of the deck, so to speak. It was written, recorded and mixed all in the same day—a first for me.”
See Neal Francis live.
