Name: Emily Francis Trio
Members: Emily Francis (Keyboards, Synthesizers, Glass Harp, Piano), Trevor Boxall (Bass), Jamie Murray (Drums)
Nationality: British
Current release: The Emily Francis Trio's Atomic EP is out May 23rd 2024 via Bridge the Gap. Pre-save for streaming.
Recommendations: Music: "M-Theory" by FORQ; Painting: "Composition No.8" by Kandinsky.

If you enjoyed this Emily Francis interview and would like to know more about her work, visit the Emily Francis Trio's official website or facebook profile. Emily is also on Instagram.



When I listen to music, I see shapes, objects and colours. What happens in your body when you're listening? Do you listen with your eyes open or closed?

If it is something that I’m emotionally connected to, it is a feeling of complete immersiveness i.e. being surrounded by sound.

Music can always feel like a haven away from the everyday stress of life.

Entering new worlds and escapism through music have always exerted a very strong pull on me. What do you think you are drawn to most when it comes to listening to and creating music?

Certainly the escapism too as mentioned, but most of all what is important for me is the intention behind the song. I feel like if a composer has an emotional intention, that will always transcend any technical virtuosity.

What were your very first steps in music like and how would you rate the gains made through experience?

I was fortunate to come from quite a musical family and also went to schools with passionate music tutors and well-resourced departments. I started from a very early age singing and mucking around on children’s instruments until my parents bought me a keyboard when I was 7.

Experience not only exposes you to different scenarios and improves your technical skill and adaptability, but it also allows you to make more informed choices about your creative pathway.

According to scientific studies, we make our deepest and most incisive musical experiences between the ages of 13-16. What did music mean to you at that age and what’s changed since then?

Music was everything.

I was involved in two local jazz orchestras as well as having a couple of originals bands and was probably at school nearly every day of the week taking part in various ensembles. I was fortunate to attend a lot of workshops with touring professionals and at this age was adamant I wanted to be a film composer having watched behind the scenes footage of Howard Shore writing the Lord of the Rings score.

It wasn’t until I went to university that I was exposed to new music and those around me helped me find confidence in my ability as an artist and performer.

How would you describe your own relationship with your instrument, tools or equipment?

The tools are so important as they are crucial for determining who you are as a player and also developing your unique sound. On a basic level, we all have our go to brands for this very reason.

Creatively, for me a different synth sound can help take a composition in a completely alternate direction and I will often try new ideas with different sounds to see how they resonate.

Where does the impulse to create something come from for you? What role do often-quoted sources of inspiration like dreams, other forms of art, personal relationships, politics etc play?

I think the creative process is a constant, it’s just whether or not you allow for the opportunity to catch the moment.

Are you acting out parts of your personality in your music which you couldn't or wouldn't in your daily life? If so, which are these? What, would you say, are the key ideas behind your approach to music?

For me personally, I’m quite a placid person in my everyday life and have a very firm handle on my emotions.

Music is certainly an outlet for some of those deeper frustrations and it is natural for factors that affect me in my everyday life to be reflected in my music. It is a cathartic thing as much a creative outlet.  

If music is a language, what can we communicate with it? How do you deal with misunderstandings?

The language of music is universal. It always amuses me that when you put on a concert you can have people from all walks of life, with opposing personal or political views, but they all come together to share in this moment. That’s the beauty of music and the arts.

It won’t always be everyone’s cup of tea, but ultimately if you don’t feel anything, whether joy or pain, then that is probably worse.

Making music, in the beginning, is often playful and about discovery. How do you retain a sense of playfulness and how do you still draw surprises from tools, approaches and musical forms you may be very familiar with?  

Allowing yourself to play/practice without judgement is very important. If I don’t have any inspiration to play, that’s ok. For me, the more technical practice I do, the more I develop creatively. They go hand in hand.

But what is most important is that you are practising for you and what your mind and body need.

Sound, song, and rhythm are all around us, from animal noises to the waves of the ocean. What, if any, are some of the most moving experiences you've had with these non-human-made sounds? In how far would you describe them as “musical”?

I’m a nature obsessive and admittedly you could stick me in a field or woodland and leave me there. I’d be more than ok with that! I could listen to birdsong for an eternity.

If you connect with it on an emotional level and find peace there in the same way that you connect with music, then for me that’s all there is to it!

There seems to be an increasing trend to capture music in algorithms, and data. But already at the time of Plato, arithmetic, geometry, and music were considered closely connected. How do you see that connection yourself? What aspects of music do you feel can be captured through numbers, and which can not?

I’m no scientist or mathematician, however we are all interconnected and made from the same ‘star stuff’. This is more obvious when you pass sound waves through water or grains of sand and you see the shapes it can create.

Also, when it comes to resonance of sounds, the harmonic series and tunings. These are all interwoven into our DNA.

How does the way you make music reflect the way you live your life? Can we learn lessons about life by understanding music on a deeper level?

I guess with instrumental music, this is a little different in comparison to music with lyrics. If you read the words of the great singer-songwriters like Joni Mitchell or James Taylor for example, you can certainly learn a lot about what it is to be human.

However, as mentioned before, music is what you feel. Some days you might reach for the more tender acoustic version of our last single “Lydian Child” or the harder edged “After The Rain”.

We can surround us with sound every second of the day. The great pianist Glenn Gould even considered this the ultimate delight. How do you see that yourself and what importance does silence hold?

I think whatever helps you find moments of peace is important. For some it is their favourite song, for me it is peace and quiet or some delta wave music at the end of a yoga session.

You must make time for peace, it costs nothing.

Do you feel as though writing or performing a piece of music is inherently different from something like making a great cup of coffee? What do you express through music that you couldn't or wouldn't in more 'mundane' tasks?

The beauty of doing what we do is that it can be shared and that you can make a difference to someone’s day, year, life. If you make an amazing cup of coffee, that’s brilliant and a lovely moment perhaps for yourself, but it can only be experienced by the people that drink the coffee.

Music can be far reaching. You connect people in a room together or millions at a festival could be singing your song back to you. It is powerful.

If you could make a wish for the future – what are developments in music you would like to see and hear?

I feel the sound that Jamie, Trevor and myself have created will develop naturally as time goes by. We understand how each other plays, and the music has taken on a whole new character as a result.

People come to our shows as they know they will see a unified band that cares about their audience and puts on a great show.