Frankie Archer is a singer of traditional folk songs with a twist: her musical palette is influenced by Björk, Hannah Peel, Rosalía and James Blake. Performing simply and plainly in her Northumbrian accent, she uses synthesisers and electronics to layer atmosphere into her arrangements, even submitting her violin to an array of distorting effects pedals (on recent single Lovely Joan, it sounds like a sinister electric guitar).
Although her parents were not particularly musical, Archer was drawn to folk music from a young age: it was, she has said, “a very uncool thing for a 12-year-old to be into”. After years of playing in bands at local pubs, in 2022 she released her first single, Over the Border, built around a 200-year old Northumbrian Smallpipe tune. Her first EP, Never So Red, co-produced and mixed by renowned folk musician Jim Moray, came out last autumn, featuring centuries-old ballads such as Oxford City, about a jealous lover who poisons his fiancee, and Lucy Wan, about a brother who kills the sister he’s made pregnant. Archer then performed live on Later… With Jools Holland alongside the Last Dinner Party, who took her on tour. She supports them again next month.
Her interest in women’s fates through history, coupled with a determination to give them a voice, come together on her new EP, Pressure and Persuasion. Reimaginings of ballads including Elsie Marley and Barbara Allen tell stories of pressures “to be chatty but not too opinionated, to be sexy but not a slut” as glitched vocals and electronic manipulation ramp up the tension. Barbara Allen also comes with a video where Archer’s eyes melt, her arms twist, and her body becomes made of flowers, old and new coiling together with a powerful punch.
Pressure and Persuasion is released on 4 October
