Frances Shelley is a composer and performer recently relocated to Sintra, Portugal. An animist and long time environmentalist, all her work is influenced by the natural world and how us humans interact within it.
Her music has been used in numerous short films and commercials, her most recent contribution being to the feature length film Easter in Art with director Peter Grabsky.
She self released two albums, Interiors (2005) and Wilderness Rhapsodies (2010), both exploring the bleak Suffolk landscape in winter. These two albums were later re-released in 2022 via Manners McDade. Thomas Dolby called the music “slow burning atmostpheric beauty, an otherwordly landscape’.
In 2020 her full length album A Place that Exists was released with Manners McDade, followed in 2021 by Songs of Possibility which explores the opportunities and challenges of abrupt change experienced by so many during the pandemic.
In 2023, Frances released her new album CHILD, a collection inspired by the birth of her granddaughter. Headphone Commute praised the release, remarking upon the “beautifully layered keys, gently orchestrated arrangements, and carefully measured dose of electronic post-processing, to create atmospheres that swoop in with warm winds”. In 2024, she released her new EP Invocation.
Frances created the soundscape and piano duo Pianofield, with Matthew Bickerton, performing at Latitude Festival 2018 and Q3 Ambient Festival, amongst other events. In 2017, Frances was recognised by shesaid.so on their Alternative Power 100 Music List.
Frances’ work has been aired on BBC Radio 3’s Unclassified show as well as on Soho Radio and BBC Radio Suffolk. Her compositions have been included for 3 years running on the Piano Day playlist curated by Nils Frahm.