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An extraordinary collaboration from SAGE FRANCIS' upcoming album Li(f)e premiered today at href="http://www.prefixmag.com/media/sage-francis/the-best-of-times-prefix-premiere/39561/">Prefixmag.com>. The song, entitled "Best Of Times," features a stark and introspective narrative by FRANCIS which gradually evolves into a potent treatise on individualism and resilience. Sample lyric: "Don't listen when they tell you that these are your best years/Don't let anybody protect your ears/It's best that you hear what they don't want you to hear/It's better to have pressure from peers than not have peers." This vivid lyricism has been powerfully enlivened by an evocative musical landscape created by noted French multi instrumentalist and composer Yann Tiersen, known for his post punk influenced avant-garde classical works as well as his many film soundtracks. This surprising yet effective partnership between vanguard rapper and visionary classical composer, while initially unorthodox, seems to have inspired a truly compelling and special work.

As FRANCIS explains: "The instrumental piece that Mr. Tiersen sent has a slow build that gradually gets more chaotic until it crescendos. This certainly isn't the kind of music I could plop backlogged lyrics on top of. In order to maintain an organic feel I had to write the lyrics to the builds of the music. I eventually referenced an old letter I had written to my girlfriend a couple years back. The first line was, "It's been a long and lonely trip but I'm glad I took it" and the rest flowed from there. What resulted was a string of raw and revealing moments of my upbringing that seem to have molded my adulthood. The thesis of the song seems to be about how we tend to fool ourselves into thinking that the tough and embarrassing moments of our life are much bigger than they actually are. That's probably the greatest lie of our lives. It's a lie that is so convincing that some of us kill ourselves over it. It's important to remember that when all seems lost it really isn't. To put it in fewer words, "this too shall pass." It's time for something new - a new ending and a new beginning. All I can think to say in order to wrap this whole li(f)e up is: 'It was the best of times. It was the end of times.'"

SAGE FRANCIS' new album Li(f)e will be released May 11th on Anti-Records. FRANCIS will be performing a series of North American Dates in support.

SAGE FRANCIS Tour Dates:

05-12 Middle East Downstairs, Cambridge, MA 05-13 Higher Ground, Burlington VT 05-14 Port City Music Hall, Portland, ME 05-18 Alvins, Detroit, MI 05-19 Bottom Lounge, Chicago, IL 05-20 Turner Hall Milwaukee, WI 05-21 First Avenue, Minneapolis MN 05-22 Blue Note, Columbia, MO 05-24 Gothic Theater, Englewood, CO 05-25 Urban Lounge, Salt Lake City, UT 05-26 Badlander, Missoula, MT 06-01 Showbox SoDo, Seattle, WA 06-02 Berbatis Pan, Portland, OR 06-04 Fillmore, San Francisco, CA 06-05 The Catalyst, Santa Cruz CA 06-06 Henry Fonda Theater, Los Angeles CA 06-07 Belly Up Tavern, Solana Beach, CA 06-09 Glass House Pomona, CA 06-10 The Clubhouse, Tempe AZ 06-11 Club Congress, Tucson, AZ 06-12 Sunshine Theatre, Albuquerque NM 06-14 Granada Theater, Dallas, TX 06-15 Mohawk Place, Buffalo, NY 06-16 House of Blues, Houston, TX 06-18 Club at Firestone Orlando, FL 06-19 The Loft, Atlanta, GA 06-21 Cats Cradle Carrboro, NC 06-22 Rock n Roll Washington, DC 06-23 Otto Bar, Baltimore, MD 06-24 Trocadero, Philadelphia, PA 06-25 Webster Hall, New York, NY