Neal Francis ended a two-year studio silence on Friday with the release of “Back It Up”. The standalone single arrived nearly two years to the day after the release of Sentimental Garbage—a collection of B-sides cut from 2021’s In Plain Sight—which arrived November 18th, 2022.
Vintage singer-songwriter-pianist Neal Francis made a name for himself on his 2019 debut Changes and sophomore breakthrough In Plain Sight with introspective songwriting set to nostalgic R&B grooves. However on “Back It Up”, Francis leaves the deeper soul-searching at the door and instead beelines to the dancefloor with a minimalist groove and lyrics that don’t take themselves too seriously. Francis’ keyboard contributions are largely confined to sparing synth notes, opting instead to highlight his rock-solid backing band that keeps the disco relic track gyrating. Though Francis’ croonings are tongue-in-cheekily banal in content, he captures the feeling of his many fans hungry for new music as he repeats, “I’ve been waiting / Such a long, long time” in the song’s outro.
“That song went through a few different phases before we got to the final iteration,” Francis said in a statement. “It took me a while to accept that it’s okay to have fun with the lyrics, instead of making everything so serious all the time.”
“Back It Up” is not officially part of any larger release, though a press release alluded to “more new music to come” from the keyboardist. Between “Back It Up” and Sentimental Garbage, Francis released the 2023 live album Francis Comes Alive, recorded during a sold-out hometown show at Chicago’s Thalia Hall while Francis was touring with an augmented 11-piece band.
Stream Neal Francis’ “Back It Up” below or on your preferred streaming platform. Francis has a handful of headlining tour dates left for 2024 culminating with a pair of concerts at Thalia Hall on December 13th and 14th. Next year, Francis will head down to Mexico for Bob Weir‘s Dead Ahead Festival in Mexico, and he was just included on the lineup for the 2025 return of All Good Music Festival. Find tickets on his website and scroll down for a complete list of tour dates.
Neal Francis — “Back It Up” [Video]