Frantic shares his latest single, “In Lovecraftian Fashion”
Kelowna, BC-based poet and rapper Travis Andrews, known as Frantic, has unveiled his single, “In Lovecraftian Fashion.”
Frantic has been busy, releasing an album, Wisdom and Wonder, on April 13, plus a slew of singles since then, including “No Half Measures,” and this latest single, “In Lovecraftian Fashion.”
Listen to “In Lovecraftian Fashion” below, and learn more about Frantic via our Five Questions With segment.
Care to introduce yourself to our readers?
My name is Frantic, real name Travis Andrews. I’m a poet and rapper based in Kelowna, BC. I’ve been writing poetry for almost a decade and was a competitive slam poet through 2019 and 2020. I took the slam poetry champion for the year with the Inspired Word Cafe in 2020 and began the leap to music just before that. My intention has always been to create melodically-driven beats, and to that end, I took a year off to focus entirely on piano and bring that knowledge to my production. I make music about mental health, storytelling, and monsters glimpsed in the trees.
Tell us a bit about your most recent release.
My most recent track is entitled “In Lovecraftian Fashion.” It’s a gloomy track centered on piano, cello, and violin with some thumping drums behind them. Through this instrumentation, I make a lot of literary references and characterize depression as a small goblin living on your shoulder, whispering in your ear. I also go into the feeling of recognizing that same goblin on the shoulder of another. It’s very much meant as a Halloween track.
Where do you tend to pull inspiration from when writing?
I’ve spoken about this on the Inspired Word Podcast, but the biggest difficulty I have in pulling inspiration is that I feel most inspired when I’m amid a strong emotion. And as such, most of my songs tend to come with a “screw you, I can do this” or a depressive in my feelings angle. But I do occasionally write about things like Imposter Syndrome or completely craft a narrative. My favorite example is The Bounds of These Boughs, from my album Wisdom and Wonder, which tells the story of an ancient forest deity cursed to forever wander his forest.
Do you have any upcoming shows or festivals you’d like to tell us about?
I’m going to be performing at Nuit Blanche on October 15th, Dunnenzies Downtown on October 21st, and Art Alley on November 4th. All of these events are in Kelowna, BC.
What’s your goal for 2022?
Having just finished a hip-hop album, I’ve been busy working on setting my eight most successful poems to music and releasing them. This project is about 65% done at the moment, I want to wrap this up and begin introducing more musical poetry to my repertoire.