manifesto

FRANTX is a narrative of emotions / a sonic form that explores themes of non-binarity and gender fluidity, social struggles, and our relationship with the ambiguity of the internet. It runs on the energy of four humans using voice, instruments, and electronics. Together, we raise the questions that deeply affect and engage us the most:

≈How can we create an electroacoustic performance rooted in the horizontal co-creation models that emerged form the DIY hardcore scenes in the 80s and 90s?
≈How can we embody and claim a new artistic figure that spans various roles (composition / improvisation / performance / digital realization / experimental instrument-making) while staying accessible?
≈How can we integrate into our musical practice ideas connected to extra-musical themes such as gender identity, the revaluation of European folklore, or the impact of the internet and technology on our communities?

FRANTX was born to establish a new poetic of noise as both space and mean to explore topics where ambiguity often proves the most accurate response.

FRANTX positions itself as a utopian proposition against the authority and systemization of the outside world—one that allows everyone to dream of a freer, more enriching personal and collective dynamic, where boundaries are blurred and individualities are liberated. Music becomes a self-contained world (or rather, a trial micro-society—a kind of incubator for ideas before they reach the world), enabling us to explore performativities that suit us, while embracing the idea of roles and responsibilities that are fluid, always shifting and evolving. Play as a lightness of being, and as a platform for questioning and advocacy.

In our creative process, we aim to challenge our lived experiences and trajectories (academic, personal, artistic...) and push against the current to develop a new ecology of musical practice—from composition to performance, including transmission and rehearsal. We approach creation within FRANTX in the most horizontal way possible (more equitable than strictly equal): every individual contribution is transformed within the group based on the playing environment. We work with what we have, yet constantly deconstruct and reassemble it differently—like a Lego set made of contradictory experiences.

Beyond the broader questioning of imposed secular and societal systems (gender, power dynamics, consumption, productivity...), we deeply care about making our work as open as possible to sharing and transmitting our practices, as well as welcoming outside contributions—whether from audiences or artist-activists we encounter. To this end, all four of us are actively involved in collectives (2035, Amygdala, L’Autre Collectif), labels (Sofa, Autres Records), and serve as educators and curators (Marco for the Quois festival in Turin, Andrea for All Ears in Oslo). This allows us to redefine the role of performers in the social landscape and help ensure cultural access across all backgrounds.

FRANTX weaves an imagined sonic universe that draws on extended techniques from contemporary music, songs from Piedmontese folklore, and the sonic intensity of post-hardcore to craft an original musical idiom shaped by our contrasting biographies.

In more concrete terms, we work with sound and its potential extensions organically—first individually, then collectively—across both acoustic and electronic domains. Each member brings a deeply personal approach to sound processing (be it thoughtful or empirical, emotional or conceptual), and our process merges four electroacoustic soloist practices into a multifaceted but balanced, horizontal, and innovative discourse. Technology plays a central and versatile role in shaping our music, allowing divergent approaches (digital processing, feedback, analog synthesis, live sampling) to coexist in a shared universe—mirroring our engagement with contemporary themes.

Moreover, we examine the impact of our activities and strive to embody these artistic and social ideals both on stage (through music, but also makeup, costumes, attitude) and offstage—for instance, by minimizing the ecological footprint of our travel while maintaining the group’s international dimension, or by rethinking how we connect with audiences outside of consumerist dynamics.

In constant renewal and with no predefined idiom, FRANTX continues its journey toward a form of artistic self-determination—somewhere between Hello Kitty and Anthony Braxton.

FRANTX [fanny · marco · andrea · pierre]