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Frances the Mute

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Untitled

Frances the Mute is the second studio release by progressive rock band The Mars Volta released in the US on March 1, 2005. The album frequently jumps from Spanish to English. It displays a deep jazz influence while infusing Latin flavor into many songs, most obviously in "L'Via L'Viaquez".

History

Jeremy Ward, audio artist for The Mars Volta until his death, had previously worked as a repo man. One day, Ward discovered a diary in the backseat of a car he was repossessing, and began to note the similarities between his life and that of the author - most notably, that they had both been adopted. The diary told of the author's search for his biological parents, with the way being pointed by a collection of people, their names being the basis for each named track of Frances the Mute. Ward was in the process of completing it at the time of his death.

In December 2004, a full copy of Frances the Mute was leaked to the Internet from the vinyl version. The rip was of poor quality. Encoded as a 96 kbit/s MP3, other versions were reencoded to 192 kbit/s WMA from the source mp3, resulting in even worse audio quality. Gold Standard Laboratories issued a statement decrying the Internet release for its subpar sound quality, and suggesting that fans should respect the band's request not to share the leaked music.

The first single, "The Widow", was released in early 2005 and the album Frances the Mute was released on midnight, March 1, 2005, and sold over 100,000 copies within the first week of release, and debuted at number four on the Billboard Album Charts — no mean feat for a virtually unmarketable album. The title track, "Frances the Mute", which is purportedly meant to be track one on the album and, according to the band, "decodes" the album's story, was not included in the album, and was released on March 14th, 2005, in the United Kingdom. This release was a three set limited edition, containing a single with a live version of "The Widow", played at The Wiltern in Los Angeles on June 13th, and the unreleased title song "Frances the Mute." Also in the collection is a DVD that includes clips from their performance at the Electric Ballroom in London on July 9th, 2003, "The Widow" music video, and the "Televators" music video. Finally, the last item is a 12" picture disc vinyl single including "Frances the Mute" and a live version of "The Widow," which saw release from Gold Standard Laboratories. A second single from the album, "L'Via L'Viaquez" was released in June of 2005. Included on this single there was another unreleased song entitled "The Bible and the Breathalyzer."

Sound

Frances the Mute is comparable to The Mars Volta's 2003 release De-Loused in the Comatorium, with its cryptic, verbose lyrics, largely improvised musical interludes and highly layered instrumentals, although the progressive rock influence is stronger on Frances the Mute than it was on De-Loused in the Comatorium. Much of the album has a psychedelic feel to it, though the band members have reportedly gone sober due to the role of drugs in the deaths of Julio Venegas and Jeremy Ward. Ambient noise plays a larger role on Frances the Mute than it does on De-Loused in the Comatorium. "Miranda That Ghost Just Isn't Holy Anymore," for example, begins with 4 minutes of coquí frogs singing while a thick soundscape is slowly built from Cedric Bixler-Zavala's voice and synthesizers.

Track listing

After removing the title track due to the time constraints of the compact disc, the band had intended to release Frances the Mute as a five track album, with each of the tracks representing one of the characters of the album. However, due to the fact the album's five tracks would have technically made it an EP (despite its 77-minute length), the band would have been paid by Universal Records as they would for an EP. So the album was split into twelve tracks total — there are eight tracks comprising "Cassandra Gemini1," but it is not split upon movement lines. [1]

Official Tracklist

This is the finalised version, as it was intended to be released on all formats - the original leak, vinyl version and some audio files can be found with this tracklist. This is also written on the back of the CD cover, which has led to much confusion among first time listeners when they discover the album has 12 tracks.

  1. "Cygnus....Vismund Cygnus" – 13:08
    1. "Sarcophagi"
    2. "Umbilical Syllables"
    3. "Facilis Descenus Averni2"
    4. "Con Safo"
  2. "The Widow" – 5:57
  3. "L'Via L'Viaquez" – 12:27
  4. "Miranda, That Ghost Just Isn't Holy Anymore" – 13:09
    1. "Vade Mecum3"
    2. "Pour Another Icepick"
    3. "Pisacis (Phra-Men-Ma)"
    4. "Con Safo"
  5. "Cassandra Gemini" – 32:32
    1. "Tarantism"
    2. "Plant a Nail in the Navel Stream"
    3. "Faminepulse"
    4. "Multiple Spouse Wounds"
    5. "Sarcophagi"

As appears on CD

Due to difficulties with the band's record label they had to split the tracks. This is how the tracks of the album are most commonly named in order to avoid confusion when playing the album on a computer.

  1. "Cygnus...Vismund Cygnus" (13:02)
  2. "The Widow" (5:50)
  3. "L'Via L'Viaquez" (12:21)
  4. "Miranda, That Ghost Just Isn't Holy Anymore" (13:08)
  5. "Cassandra Gemini" (4:45)
  6. "Tarantism" (6:40)
  7. "Plant a Nail in the Navel Stream" (2:55)
  8. "Faminepulse" (7:41)
  9. "Pisacis (Phra-Men-Ma)" (4:59)
  10. "Con Safo" (3:48)
  11. "Multiple Spouse Wounds" (0:48)
  12. "Sarcophagi" (0:53)

Notes

1 The official spelling for the song title is "Cassandra Gemini," despite the typo "Geminni" printed on all parts of the CD packaging; the MusicBrainz database, the vinyl release of the album, and the band's official site all list the track as "Gemini."
2 Latin for "Easy is the descent into Avernus."
3 Latin for "Go With Me."

Personnel

Contributing artists

  • Michael Balzary - Trumpet
  • John Frusciante - First two guitar solos on "L'Via L'Viaquez"
  • Larry Harlow - Piano / Treated Clarinet on "L'Via L'Viaquez" and "Cassandra Gemini"
  • Lenny Castro - Additional track percussion
  • Adrian Terrazas - Tenor Sax / Flute on "Cassandra Gemini"
  • David Campbell - String Arrangements
  • The Coquí of Puerto Rico
  • Violins:
    • Fernano Moreno
    • Erick Hernandez
    • Diego Casillas
    • Ernesto Molina
    • Joel Derouin
    • Roberto Cani
    • Mario De Leon
    • Peter Kent
    • Josefina Vergara
  • Trumpets:
    • Salvador (Chava) Hernandez
    • Wayne Bergeron
    • Suzie Katayama
    • Randy Jones (Also contributed Tuba)
    • Larry Corbett (Also contributed Cello)
    • Roger Manning (Also contributed Piano)
    • Nicholas Lane (Also contributed Trombone)
    • William Reichenbach (Also contributed Bass Trombone)

Charts

Album

Year Chart Position
2005 European Top 100 Albums -
2005 The Billboard 200 4
2005 Top Canadian Albums 6
2005 Top Internet Albums 4
2005 UK Albums Chart 23
2005 ARIA Album Chart (Australia) 9

Singles

Year Single Chart Position
2005 "The Widow" European Hot 100 Singles -
2005 "The Widow" Mainstream Rock Tracks 26
2005 "The Widow" Modern Rock Tracks 7
2005 "The Widow" The Billboard Hot 100 95
2005 "The Widow" UK Singles Chart 20

Trivia

  • Oddly enough, the titular track, Frances the Mute, is not on the album itself, but was released with the double album vinyl as a free bonus 12-inch single, as well as on the single release of "The Widow." Before deciding to remove it from the album, the band members had intended to be the first song in the tracklisting. The subsections of the song are:
  1. "Frances the Mute" – 14:36
    1. "In Thirteen Seconds"
    2. "Nineteen Sank, While Six Would Swim"
    3. "Five Would Grow and One Was Dead"
  • The artwork is once again done by Storm Thorgerson, who created the cover for De-Loused.
  • The album's name was originally going to be Sarcophagus.

See also

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