Frander is no stranger to the underground. The Maryland-based, melodic rapper has been releasing music for five years now, his second full album of 2018, Ballads of a Lost Soul is both mellow and melancholic with just a touch of angst. The seventeen track album showcases Frander’s multi-faceted personality– from his sensitive side to his braggadocious lifestyle. Frander has an uncanny ability to create tracks that are new school and experimental with an old-school funk flavor, and this project embodies this and so much more. Frander has complete control of his audience as he experiences not only in sound but with the listener’s expectations, with each track. Ballads of a Lost S oul is a long walk through the dense realm of emotion.
We are immediately thrown into Frander’s messy nest of solitude with a simple and somber track entitled “Losing myself (prod. Kashィン)” The track quickly set up the listeners expectation for the project, covering themes such as drug abuse, mental torment, and an overall collapse of self; “Can’t glance at the mess I’ve become, take drugs and pretend that I’m numb.” With the second track named after the album, “Ballads of a Lost Soul (Prod. Timeless Era) ” we exit our quiet nightmare and enter an energetic dream with a moving narrative:
“Saw the needles in her pocket was beyond belief, this the only way my people choose to run from grief. Could’ve choose to leave but instead I ask her, ‘why?’ I see the demons in her when I lookin’ in her eyes, she replies with a cry that ‘this life just pain.'”
“Ballad of a Lost Soul ” is a painful look at the way in which we choose to stifle our suffering and the ways in which torment can isolate us, alienating us from each other — even though we all suffer, we are all going through the same struggle behind closed doors. The way in which Frander is approaching the “drug narrative” in this track, as well as throughout the entirety of the album, is refreshing, visceral, and unfiltered. Frander isn’t bragging when he speaks of pain or drug use — he’s suffering, he’s ashamed and introspective, and in this way it is fresh take in today’s underground scene.
Just when the listener becomes comfortable with their expectations for the album, Frander hits us with an uptempo love song, “Crazy About U (prod. Blue Skai). Skai offers gentle, lo-fi productions as Frander dreams for his past love. In the ninth track of Ballads of a Lost Soul, “God Bless The Dead Feat. Gm$5 (prod. Timeless Era)”, Frander and Gm$5 deliver a clean, catchy flow reminiscent of 90s hip-hop giving the track a nostalgic feel with a lo-fi, jazzy, twist; “God bless the dead, all the fallen soldiers / Ima have one rolled when I’m crossing over / Is there heaven for a G? I’ve been too afraid to ask / trying to evolve, but I make it to my past.” The tenth “Deities Feat. Wzrd Klly (Prod. Timeless Era)” follows suit in terms of a fresh take on an old-school style. With the albums eleventh track, “I Just Wanna Flex (prod. Zauvage)”, Frander throws us for a loop yet again and gives us a “classic SoundCloud” brag track. Frander delivers his braggadocious bars over a hard-hitting, interstellar beat.
From there, Frander continues to surprise the listener with his experimentation in style and sound as well as his loaded narratives. Ballads of A Lost Soul lives up to its name. Each track is beautiful and comforting in its own way, despite its heavy themes. In the description of the album, Frander dedicates the album to us, the listeners:
“Ballads of a lost soul dedicated to every lost soul in every realm of existence, may you find your light.”
Regardless of your struggles and burdens, no matter where you find in yourself, Frander will make sure you won’t go through it alone. Delve into Ballads of a Lost Soul below.