Frances Quinlan Likewise

Hop Along's Frances Quinlan announces solo album & tour, shares "Rare Thing"

Last year, Hop Along released Bark Your Head Off, Dog, which was one of our favorite albums of 2018, and in 2020, singer Frances Quinlan will be releasing her first-ever solo album under her own name. (Though technically the first Hop Along album, 2006’s Freshman Year, which came out under the name Hop Along, Queen Ansleis, was also a solo album.) It’s called Likewise and it comes out January 31 via Saddle Creek (pre-order).

Likewise was recorded with Frances’ Hop Along bandmate Joe Reinhart at Joe’s Philly studio The Headroom, and if you thought “solo album” would mean “Frances and an acoustic guitar,” you thought wrong. “Working with Joe on this made me able to better see that the guitar is just one vehicle… there are so many others to explore,” Frances says of the album, which was made with synths, drum machines, harps, strings, and more.

The first single is “Rare Thing,” which finds Frances delivering her trademark vocals over a pulsing synth and a rickety drum machine. It’s Frances Quinlan like you’ve never heard her before, but also unmistakably the work of no one else. Check it out for yourself below. The album also closes with a cover of Built to Spill’s “Carry the Zero.”

Frances has also announced solo tour dates for 2020, happening in Chicago (Tomorrow Never Knows), San Francisco (Noise Pop), Portland, Seattle, LA, and San Diego. The newly-added shows go on sale Friday (10/25) at 10 AM PST, and more dates will be announced soon. All currently announced dates are listed below.

Tracklist
1. Piltdown Man
2. Your Reply
3. Rare Thing
4. Detroit Lake
5. A Secret
6. Went to LA
7. Lean
8. Now That I’m Back
9. Carry the Zero (Built To Spill cover)

Frances Quinlan — 2020 Tour Dates
01/19/20 – Chicago, IL @ Tomorrow Never Knows Festival at Sleeping Village
03/01/20 – San Francisco, CA @ Noise Pop at Swedish American Music Hall
03/03/20 – Portland, OR @ Doug Fir
03/05/20 – Seattle, WA @ Columbia City Theater
03/12/20 – Los Angeles, CA @ Pico Union Project
03/14/20 – San Diego, CA @ Casbah