Manu Francois is a mixed genre musical artist and musician born in St. Lucia in the Caribbean and living in New Zealand. He has played music all his life with a background in extreme music, Technical Death Metal. “I played drums in a band called Athenic. (If you wanna see some crazy drumming from me back then on YouTube “Manu Francois Athenic Drum”), he comments. After this, he spent some time dancing with his acoustic guitar trying to make something happen before venturing into more electronic music in 2017.
He did a two-year course on music production in Christchurch, New Zealand. During this time, he wrote and recorded his debut album made up of rap and song material, Check It. For this, he let out his beast while having fun with the production side, noting fans will notice the production quality is somewhat amateur albeit ambitious.
The following few years were focused on polishing his production skills and promotion of his music. “I tell you, I’ve wasted a lot of time and money promoting my music in unsustainable ways. All to come to the realization of what music I really want to make, why I want to make it and what is important in life,” he continues.
He has learned a lot during his time creating and promoting his music, he comments, “ I was thinking, let’s give the world what they seem to want, so that I can get something in return. This is the wrong attitude to take to music, something that in its essence is a gift from Creation, to give as a gift to the world. It took me a long time to let that really sink in. It took me a lot of trial and rejection.”
Manu has many influences listing them from the genre of (pop) Michael Jackson, (rap) Drake, (acoustically) Andy Mckee which leads to his brand-new EP, Humanity. He classifies this release as a gift to the listening world. He wanted to create something that was a true and honest representation of his heart and soul. “It was born from a time of pressure and pain, feeling misunderstood from all of the antics of my earlier years. I wanted a way to show who I really was and how I really felt,” he comments.
With the release of, Humanity, when questioned about his songwriting process, he commented, “There are many ways of approaching songwriting, there’s letting the music draw your words etc... but, what I really found of value during the writing of this album was, having conversations, in the night at times, lying in bed with my dear partner talking about something that was important to me.” In doing this, he tries his best to explain his feelings in a conversational setting referring to the title-track.
“I would lie in bed and write on my notepad, my thoughts, with a vague perception of poetry, not too concerned at all with rhyming and other “song” concepts, but mostly focused on the concentrated essence of my feelings. The next morning, I got up, and I played music to that feeling. I knew it would be minor, and as it went, the song was created that day,” he continues.
He appreciates his wayward ventures into different musical forms of expressions such as freestyle rap as something he enjoys and that challenges him along with the energy, possibilities, and craft itself. However, he feels most in tune with the shape of his soul when singing and playing music with his body. “So this EP is a stripped back expression of my sound. It’s something that I can play with no accompaniment and still arouse deep feelings of joy, sadness, reminiscence.”
Manu’s music is something he wants to stay around forever. He wants the listeners to feel the solace of having kin in this life. Someone who is just like you. Someone who was alive, felt all that you feel, from the unbearable frustration to the divine contentment. To know that you are not alone. Ever. “I want my music to help you love, to help you heal yourself and be good to yourself. I want my music to help you dance, cry, whatever it is that you need to come to love and peace,” he comments.
As the global pandemic of COVID-19 has struck the world and isolated many ‘normal’ things, in this instant, concerts, when questioned about how this period of time has helped his creative juices, Manu responded, “The pandemic has offered me much more time inside. That has helped in affording me more time to create music. But really, creative juices come from movement, from the wonder of the outdoors, from social contact and dealing with others. So the pandemic has juiced up a lot of feelings of trepidation and injustice, which can make for good songs for the time, but I am praying that this manufactured circumstance turns out somehow with humanity on top.”
Words by Danielle Holian