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Submitted with limited information— a single line saying “30 years later and I find some courage to release my own songs”— I hoped to maybe discover a time vault of songwriting from a past era. 

Stan J Fran performing in previous project decades before

This submission, Just Listen by Stan J Fran, goes further back than 30 years. Instead, I was taken to an era of Hall and Oates, Bowie and Blue Swede. Nostalgic to an era that inspired the Guardians of the Galaxy mixtapes, this felt like it would belong. 

Stan J Fran in band "Fool" playing gig in park.

Don’t get me wrong, there’s some elements of impurity with lyrical clunks - in the first verse we rhyme ‘worst’ with ‘worst’ for instance, and a few lines that are lyrically smart but also somewhat forced syllabically. But I’m nitpicking! The same could be said about certain Bob Dylan songs, and he’s noted as one of the all time greats. Stan J Fran boasts a beautiful, nostalgic song with inspirations drawn across multiple genres creating a defined sound. A harmonica following the first chorus felt reminiscent of Americana and blues artists - it framed the song like a Joe Purdy track (for those unaware, I recommend checking out his albums ‘Julie Blue’- which featured in tv series Lost, and ‘Only Four Seasons’). 

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A subtle vocal performance, the strength of Just Listen is in its songwriting and musical composition. The track doesn’t rely on significant tonal changes in the voice, but instead weaves through each section, offering something new throughout. Rhythmic stabs following the melody, or instrumental changes; this submission makes me happy that Stan J Fran’s creative efforts over the last three decades are finally being shared. You can join him on his YouTube channel here, where he aims to create a song and a video a month in 2026!

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