Produced by the legendary David Werner and inspired by lo-fi dream pop, classic new wave and synthpunk, the album follows PINK + BLACK, their sophomore record released earlier this year to acclaim from NY Daily News, MetroWeekly, GLAAD, Mundane Magazine, New Noise Magazine, and beyond. 51122 corresponds with May 11, 2022 – the day that Frankie Rex, founding member of The FMs, passed away from a fentanyl overdose.
Of 51122, Matte Namer notes: “I don’t think I’ve ever been more proud and excited for an album release. There’s an identity and flow to these ten songs that feel like our most developed work thus far. We got to work with David Werner who understood our music and energy and how to elevate it and direct it. It’s also a bit somber being the last music that I think will ever be released with Frankie’s incredible, powerful, unique voice. I think there’s something about that that makes me remember they are really gone, like an orchid blooming from a coffin nail. 51122 is the date Frankie passed away, but is also a type of symbol in a way, or perhaps a word. I’m not sure what that meaning is yet, perhaps the orchid needs to grow.”
Check out our other features with The FMs HERE.
About The FMs
High school friends Matte Namer (she/they) and Frankie Rex (he/they) began The FMs in 2016, forging a close bond through their respective journeys coming out as transgender and shared love of synthesizers.
The next six years saw The FMs create an entire community around their illegal SVBVERT shows on a ferry boat in the industrial canals of Bushwick, where they also recorded and self-produced three full-length LPs.
Their debut LP Machinacene Epoch (2017) irreverently coupled 90s psychedelic-industrial grunge with dance pop, earning The FMs the title of “New York’s outré band of sonic seditionaries” from BlackBook Magazine. Machianacene Epoch cemented The FMs’ commitment to a traditional approach to the creation of albums, demonstrating their philosophy that each release should have its own identity and be a standalone sonic statement.
The duo’s music evolved in a softer, more personal direction for the birth of their sophomore double-LP PINK + BLACK. Between 2017 and 2020, Namer clocked a whopping 2,000 hours in their underwater studio recording, producing, and tinkering with her analog synths. The result was a shimmering sonic odyssey, nodding to early synth pioneers like Brian Eno, Kraftwerk, and Gary Numan, all firmly grounded by the aching influence of lyric-forward 90s rock bands like Nirvana.
Before The FMs could celebrate the release of PINK + BLACK, Rex passed away from a fentanyl overdose in 2022. This devastating loss put a years-long pause on the project, but even death ultimately could not stop Frankie’s voice from being heard. Two years later Namer told NY Daily News, “From almost the moment they passed on, I knew this was my responsibility – I had to make sure that this work that they had done, that the world got to hear it and see it.”
PINK + BLACK was released posthumously in 2024 and received recognition in multiple major publications including NY Daily News, MetroWeekly, GLAAD, Mundane Magazine, and New Noise Magazine. In anticipation of this new chapter, Namer reformed The FMs in Ithaca, NY with trans musicians Bubba Crumrine (guitars), Basim Hussain (synths, keys), and Nick Scollard (drums). The double-LP and new live band made their debut at the first-ever Frankie Fest, a tribute to Frankie Rex and fundraiser for Chosen Family Law Center.
The FMs are back with a new ferocity, recording and performing all-new material inspired by lo-fi dream pop, classic new wave and synthpunk. As Metal Epidemic lauds in their glowing review of PINK + BLACK, “the spirit of punk music lives on a little longer.”
‘51122’ Track List
- My Sex
- Record Store
- You Feel Like God
- A Means to an End
- Deviant
- Future Pope
- Hurt
- Domino
- T/riangle
- Wild New Earth
LINKS:
https://www.thefmsmusic.com/
https://www.facebook.com/thefmsmusic/
http://instagram.com/thefms
http://twitter.com/thefmsmusic
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCcMdi3VVvLu7F4gcQNYtGBw
https://itunes.apple.com/us/album/machinacene-epoch/id1286874160
