Tune Into the FMs – News JoJo

NYC alt-punk duo The FMs are set to release their sophomore album PINK + BLACK on May 10^th. High school friends Matte Namer (vox, guitar, bass, synths) and Frankie Rex (vox, guitar) began The FMs in 2016, thematically finding common ground with their respective journeys coming out as transgender and sonically relating to their love of synthesizer rock. The band’s name is an anagram for their names and a wordplay on “femme/masc,” and “female/male.”

The band’s debut LP, Machinacene Epoch, produced by Namer, was an irreverent mix of 90s psychedelic-industrial grunge and dance-pop. From this jumping-off point, The FM’s music gradually moved in a softer, more ethereal direction, and the content became more personal. PINK + BLACK was completed the moment the pandemic started and is now making its release after the tragic death of singer Frankie Rex in 2022. After Frankie’s passing, Namer reformed The FMs in 2024 with a new lineup of trans-musicians recording and performing all new material inspired by lo-fi dream pop, classic disco, new wave, and post-punk. 

Recorded throughout 2017-2019 on an old ferry boat docked in the middle of Bushwick, Brooklyn, the album’s material highlights Namer’s love of analog synthesizers combined with ethereal guitars. It takes a more psychedelic and emotionally dynamic turn as compared to their debut album, spanning themes from sexual irreverence, the nature of dreams, and human connection to hope for the future of gender freedom. NYC alt-punk duo The FMs are set to release their sophomore album, PINK + BLACK, on May 10th. NYC alt-punk duo The FMs are set to release their sophomore album, PINK + BLACK, on May 10th. The album is sonically ambitious and thematically expansive yet presents a unified concept and feel within the context of The FMs’ journey. “The concept for PINK + BLACK began seven years ago and includes over a thousand hours of blood, sweat, and tears put into the recording process. This is Frankie’s legacy, and the world deserves to hear it.” – Matte Namer   

The album’s lead single (and video) is “Transformation Dreams.” Of the video, Matte shares: “Working with NYC trans filmmaker & musician Dylan Mars Greenberg, we wanted to create a video for ‘Transformation Dreams’ that was both narrative but not based solely in current practical reality. It transcends time, the mortal realm, and gender but culminates in a message of hope and love. The song’s lyrics are delivered from different periods of time, and the song took on an entirely new meaning after Frankie passed away and I wrote a new chorus for it.

The film is somewhat autobiographical in nature for both Frankie and I as it follows a version of myself living in a dystopic future like world full of traumatic patriarchal messaging and then that character discovers a queer universe where Frankie is undergoing gender affirmation surgery. We see the news that Frankie has passed on, and the video continues with me undergoing gender affirmation surgery and exploding out into a kaleidoscope of hope, love and the true freedom to express our queer and trans selves. Ultimately, I have inherited Frankie’s hopes and dreams for transformation and push back against the idea that a life cut short means a life of failure.”

This spring, The FMs will celebrate the release of PINK + BLACK with a record release show and the first-ever FrankieFest, which is a tribute to Frankie Rex.

You can pre-order and pre-save PINK + BLACK here. Keep up with The FMs on YouTube, Instagram, Facebook, and their Official Site. 

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