Q&A: Frances Baker Breaks Down Her Walls on “Isabella’s House”
INTERVIEW
INTERVIEW
☆ BY KIMBERLY KAPELA ☆
India Jaymes
FRANCES BAKER STEPS FULLY INTO HERSELF — Singer-songwriter Frances Baker is completely dismantling the emotional barriers that once shaped her sound, stepping into a version of herself that feels unguarded and wholly her own.
Isabella’s House marks a turning point. Where her earlier work felt instinctual, this EP is rooted in reflection. Baker describes taking a step back from her usual “go with the flow” process, instead confronting a more difficult question.
“I’ve always made music in a ‘go with the flow’ kind of way,” Baker says. “But this time, I took a long pause and asked myself — who do I really want to be?”
Blending alternative R&B with a hazy, almost dreamlike atmosphere, Baker’s sound exists in a liminal space. She describes it as “music to consume in a cave with candles and a beer,” and the imagery feels apt.
Lyrically, Isabella’s House is rooted in feminine power and energy. There’s a haunting softness to the way she approaches her songs, as though she’s learning to sit with herself in real time, documenting the process without rushing toward resolution.
That sense of presence extends beyond the recordings and into her live performances. This spring, Baker will take Isabella’s House on the road, bringing its intimate atmosphere to stages across the South, with stops in Tennessee and Louisiana before a solo performance in Virginia.
Eden Niefer
LUNA: Thank you for talking to Luna. Our readers would love to get to know you and your music more. For any readers who aren’t familiar with you yet, what inspires your artistic style and sound?
FRANCES: My style and sound is really inspired by growing up in Tennessee and playing the acoustic guitar and then being in indie-rock bands in college, and loving jazz, so all those different aspects of indie-rock, jazz and folk.
LUNA:Isabella’s House feels like your most intentional project yet! What inspired the EP and what emotional or thematic ground did you feel compelled to explore this time?
FRANCES: I just really wanted to explore escape and make songs that are easy to get lost in, so I really led with storytelling and really intentionally wrote them all just on acoustic guitar before adding other instruments in production.
LUNA: You mentioned asking yourself, “Who do I really want to be?”— what answers or realizations came out of that question during the making of this EP?
FRANCES: I want to be someone who creates an atmosphere with music. I've been writing a new project exploring a candlelit vibe where there are songs that you can put on and they take you somewhere. I've really been focusing on writing songs that are great to play live and that are really fun to enjoy at shows. I just think with AI coming into music, it's even more of an opportunity to explore being in person and having great shows and connecting with people and so I’ve been writing with the intention of playing songs live.
LUNA: I would love to touch more on the creative process behind Isabella’s House. What did a typical songwriting and recording session look like?
FRANCES: I love starting on acoustic guitar and just playing every day, jumping around different ideas. After a song is pretty fleshed out on the acoustic guitar I play with the band, and see how it feels naturally playing with other people, and then edit it down from there before recording it.
LUNA: Have you taken any risks or experimented more, whether that’s lyrically, emotionally or sonically, with Isabella’s House compared to Blossom and what did that look like?
FRANCES: I definitely tried to be more honest and more specific. I think a lot of times it's easy to be super, super vague in songs, and I wanted to be a little honest, to the point where it made me a little uncomfortable when I was stepping out of my comfort zone in that way.
LUNA: Do you have a personal favorite song on Isabella’s House — one that feels closest to your heart or most revealing of who Frances Baker is right now?
FRANCES: My favorite is “All For You,” just because I think the lyrics are really funny and honest in a way that bounces between being playful and a little too real.
LUNA: How do you hope listeners — especially your femme audience — can connect with or find power in this new era of music from you? What emotions or messages do you want to leave with them?
FRANCES: I made this really being inspired by all girl spaces. It's like lighting candles under the moon, and having wine nights with your friends. It's for feminine energy, more than any other project has been. So it's very female centered, and because that's just a space I love. I love music by girls, and spaces where you can hang out with your girlfriends.
LUNA: How are you feeling in this current era of your career and what does the rest of the year look like that you would like to share with Luna?
FRANCES: Feeling great. I'm currently on tour, my first time going on tour, and we're running through the South. We played shows in Knoxville and Nashville, and now we're going to go play New Orleans and Austin. This year, I'm just trying to play a lot more shows outside of New York City, and I'm planning on releasing some more music that I'm really excited for this year and excited to play a lot of shows, and thank you so much for having me and interviewing me. I love Luna Collective Magazine.
