Says Francis, “In the past I’ve worked with acoustic guitar, bass, drums, B3 organ, but I wanted to bring a modern electronic element into my music. When first speaking with Jeff Trott, I quickly realized he had great musical instincts and that he was getting my tunes. And then, he brought ideas to the table that I hadn’t imagined. I saw a new musical landscape could be created with my songs by working with him.”
The musicians that Trott assembled for the recording sessions helped to create this colorful landscape. Having worked with artists such as Beck, Nine Inch nails, Gnarls Barkley, Willie Nelson, Queens of the Stone Age, Dr. Dre, and Scott Weiland, the musicians (Brian LeBarton, Justin Meldal-Johnsen, John O’Brien, Victor Indrizzo and others) provided an extraordinary musical palette of talent and sensibility.
When asked about the project, Trott says, “It really became apparent to me that Pete was a very creative and colorful song-writer. What I liked was that there was this very good sense of Pete’s personality from happy go lucky to dark and brooding. All these aspects were amazing to work with and the lyrics were very colorful. I think that’s one of the things I really enjoy about Pete’s songs… that it’s sometimes hard to really figure out what the meanings are and I think that’s missing in a lot of music - the mystery of what a song is.”
The opening track, “Glue”, generates a feeling of weightlessness by combining organic instrumentation with futuristic sounds. This song solidly represents what’s to follow on the album’s consistent mix of fresh and classic, electronic and acoustic, known and unknown… Each listen unlocks a new guitar lick, synth riff, bass groove, drum program, live drumbeat or horn swell, and even the sounds of the sparsely used Ethiopian instrument cumbus. Midway through the album, the listener gets catapulted into the up-tempo and joyous revelry of “Love Shakes You Down” a sing-a-long with the familiar bell sounds of Motown combined with a string synth creating a modern and retro sound all at once. The slower, more melodic songs of the album like “St. Paul’s Fair” and “Didn’t Know I Built It” lure the listener into dream-states with rich deep vocals, sampled sounds from a town square in Italy, trance-like Wurlitzer pedaling, and vivid lyrics.
No one would deny that Francis has earned his stripes in the independent music scene. He formed the fiercely independent band Dispatch in 1995 whose uncommonly loyal fan-base bid them farewell at The Last Dispatch concert in 2004 with an attendance of 110,000 people from around the world. Since then, his career has infiltrated many musical worlds including performing his solo music at festivals around the country, reuniting with his Dispatch pals for three sold out nights at Madison Square Garden, having his solo music featured in films and television, and performing in the presence of Zimbabwean Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai at the Kennedy Center in Washington D.C..
Commenting on his new album and departure from his Dispatch days, Francis says, “It’s good to get out of your comfort zone. I tried to let this motto resonate at every turning point of this record’s evolution.” When asked if there is an overall theme to The Movie We Are In, Francis explains, “I like to leave this up to the listener. Hearing an album is similar to visiting a museum. The listener has to have his or her own conversation with the artwork and create their own interpretations."
Sandcastle City
Pete Francis Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
It goes on for miles
The highways are on fire
I like to ride on it all day
I'm always only twenty minutes away
In sandcastle city
All you have to do is seem pretty
In sandcastle city
The sofa is enormous here
It goes on for miles
I like to lie on it all day
Stare out the window past the reservoir
Onto a golden caterpillar of cars
Sorry I'm losing you
I'm losing you, hold on
In sandcastle city
All you have to do is seem pretty
Drivin' around with my girl kitty
In sandcastle city
Light shakes in the reservoir
Moon lamps hang in kitchens
Here people hide in books of matches
Waiting to be struck
Up ahead
Green light
In Pete Francis's song Sandcastle City, the singer describes a world that is fanciful and perhaps escapist. The jungle gym is enormous and highways are always ablaze. The imagery suggests a metaphorical interpretation of the world in which the singer lives, one where everything and anything is possible. The world seems to be a place where the singer can escape from his reality and drift in a dreamlike state. The line "I like to ride on it all day" highlights the feeling of being lost in the possibilities of the world around him. The singer seems to be content in this world, even if it might not be entirely real.
As the song continues, the sandy cityscape is described in more detail. The sofa is enormous and goes on for miles, and the singer likes to lie on it all day. He gazes out the window past the reservoir and the view of the "golden caterpillar of cars." It seems that the singer is happy to be lost within Sandcastle City, but the chorus, "In Sandcastle City / All you have to do is seem pretty / Drivin' around with my girl kitty" suggests a deeper longing for companionship or for something more meaningful than mere escapism. The song creates a picture of a world that is both surreal and yet appealing to the listener's desire for an escape from reality.
Line by Line Meaning
The jungle gym is enormous here
The playground here is massive and huge
It goes on for miles
It seems to extend infinitely far away
The highways are on fire
The roads are very busy and crowded
I like to ride on it all day
I enjoy driving on the highways frequently
I'm always only twenty minutes away
Everything is easily accessible from where I am
All you have to do is seem pretty
You don't need to worry about anything except your appearance
Drivin' around with my girl kitty
Cruising in my car with my girlfriend
The sofa is enormous here
The couch here is extremely large
Stare out the window past the reservoir
Looking out the window beyond a lake
Onto a golden caterpillar of cars
Seeing a long line of cars in the distance
Sorry I'm losing you
I'm losing you, hold on
Apologizing for not keeping the listener's attention and asking them to continue listening
Light shakes in the reservoir
Moon lamps hang in kitchens
Here people hide in books of matches
Waiting to be struck
Describing a scene with visible water movement, unique lighting fixtures, and people waiting for something to happen
Up ahead Green light
A traffic light ahead shows green and it's safe to drive on
Lyrics © O/B/O APRA AMCOS
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