The mind’s behind viral smash ‘Capsize’, FRENSHIP are well and truly ones to watch in 2019. Returning with ‘Remind You’ this week, the experimental pair are ready to make waves with their synth driven pop. James Sundrland and Brett Hite make up the American electro duo, who met in unlikely beginnings working at Lululemon and found themselves on a path to making music. Now racking up millions of streams on Spotify, the good-vibes full FRENSHIP are ready for what the year’s going to give them, and what they’re putting out there…
Describe your music in 3 words…
Brett: efficacious, platitudinous, fecund.
James: nostalgic, optimistic, nickelback.
Who’s your greatest influence?
B: Bon Iver.
J: I hate saying it but Coldplay, ugh. Otherwise, my dog Mush.
What does music mean to you?
B: That’s an tough question to answer for someone who does it for a living I think. On one hand (and the reason we began this whole journey) I love it, sound has a way of connecting emotionally better than words alone can. On the other hand (as a profession) it can take on many characteristics of a job that are not desirable. The characteristics responsible for any negative connotation the word “job” has. Then lastly as the creator, music becomes something to be conquered, which is a challenge. That tension though is probably the thing that keeps me coming back.
J: Its meaning changes every season for me. There are days where it means the world and there are days that it can be frustrating and I just need to walk away from it. But it’s something that has become happily engrained in my daily life. I can get stuck in an over-analysis of what we kind of music we’re making, our next career moves, our next tour, etc that I forget to simply enjoy the high I get from making and playing music. Starting from nothing and creating a song, or album is still one of the coolest things to me. There’s nothing like starting a song you love and listening to it on repeat for 3 days straight, envisioning yourself playing it for people. I’ll always chase that feeling.
Who’s the last person you called?
B: My local bike shop.
J: My little brother Chris.
What did you talk about?
B: Rescheduled my bike appointment for Wednesday. It got deep.
J: There’s this trash tv show we have here in the states called “The Bachelor” and he comes over to my place to watch it. But during this convo we decided we’re boycotting it. We freed ourselves from one more crappy reality show.
One item of clothing you couldn’t live without?
B: Thats hard to say, its tough to imagine a world where I would all the sudden die if I didn’t have a certain shirt or something. I’ll go with pants though, I have an abundant closet of pants and I wont even get into the repercussions of me not wearing pants.
J: My Shawn Mendes shirt. Or maybe my alpaca sweater. It’s grimy and smells bad now, but my brother got it for me in Chile and I love it.
One album you couldn’t live without?
B: Bon Iver 22, A Million – which feels like a weird answer because its a relatively recent album thus I have lived most of my life without it, debunking any kind of belief that I would again die if I didn’t have it.
J: Coldplay’s Viva La Vida. Brian Eno did a fantastic job producing that one.
What’s your favourite way to spend £10?
B: I just ran the conversion rate and that equals $12.90. Which does matter, that $2.90 can make a world of difference. However I’ve been on a money-saving kick as of late so I’ll say I’m gonna save that $12.90 and apply it to the next question.
J: Bougie coffee or pickles. I love a good pickle.
How about £100?
B: Thank God I saved that $12.90 from the last question, that gives me $141.90 to play with. Since we finished up our album, I have become a cycling fanatic, so Im gonna have to say I would buy a Rapha cycling jersey probably.
J: Sushi or a lift ticket for skiing.
What’s next for you?
B: We are putting out more music and gonna hit the road. We’re very excited to play these new songs live as that’s where all the work we put into them tends to make sense.
J: Our debut LP and a bunch of touring. We took a big break from putting out music, but it’s a break we won’t take again. We’ve already started writing our second album.
FRENSHIP’s debut studio album Vacation is out on 17th May 2019, new single ‘Remind You’ is out now so click here to listen. Follow FRENSHIP on Instagram here now.
