Frances The Mute was no De-Loused Part Two. For one thing, the bands configuration had changed, in the most painful way. Shortly before the release of De- Loused, sound manipulator and founder member Jeremy Michael Ward passed away, a wound Omar says the group never recovered from. But even though his inspired fucking- with-the-sonic-parameters is absent from Frances The Mute, his spirit and influence can still be determined, the albums concept derived from a diary Ward had encountered in his day-job in repossession.

Jeremy picked up lots of interesting stuff when he was a repo man, remembers Cedric. Weird things, including this diary, He let us read it a bunch of times. It was by a guy whod been adopted and was searching to find his real parents. It was very surreal, it didnt make much sense the guy mightve been schizophrenic but it was very inspiring. It felt like how certain music helps you escape your boring every-day life. The names and scenes in the diary directly inspired these songs.

Some of the tracks pre-dated De-Loused, having their origins in early demos Omar recorded at the duos Long Beach home Anikulapo, songs such as The Widow and Miranda The Ghost Just Isnt Holy Anymore. Cedric had heard these jams in their embryonic state and began working in his mind on what he could bring to them. I was attracted to The Widow like you would be to a lover, right? Cedric remembers. I sang over it with Omar while we were touring De-Loused in Australia on the Big Day Out, like, Okay, Ive got something for this.

The albums fevered intensity infected even the staid string section, Cedric remembers. When they performed the part on Cassandra Gemini, 25 wives in the lake tonight, one of the guys in the orchestra played so hard he broke his bow, this real old, antique bow. And you could see his classical side come out like, I broke this playing a fuckin rock song?? He was pissed off. But I was like, Fuck yeah, man, thats on the record! Youve got to realise things like that are cool. The album also features field recordings of the coqui of Puerto Rico during the opening minutes of Miranda That Ghost Just Isnt Holy Anymore. We took a page out of the Grateful Deads book there, laughs Cedric. They recorded air. We recorded fuckin frogs in Puerto Rico.