Frank Cervantes

Frank Cervantes is a singer-songwriter-guitarist from Moorestown, NJ who released a small, three song EP titled The Only Light earlier this month. The album can be downloaded/bought at Cervantes’ Bandcamp. Money made from the EP will be donated to school music programs in the school district of Philadelphia through the Only Light Charity Foundation.
One neat and unique aspect of the EP is that Cervantes went back to William Allen Middle School, which he attended, in order to record some choral parts for the EP, since he and everyone who worked on the project are passionate about music education. Cervantes claims that “it was a memorable experience that [he] will never forget. As a songwriter I can get very methodical in the recording of a record, and considering the message of [The Only Light], I really wanted to include kids as a voice for the lyrics. So I recorded the William Allen Middle School 7th and 8th grade honors choir on the song.”The EP begins with a short intro consisting of mostly the chorus and piano with some guitar thrown in for good measure. It is very slow, ethereal, and ambient, as choral music often is.
The first song then leads into “The Only Light,” at which point things start to get a bit more unconventional. There is more of a rock band feel, with a drum kid and being more guitar-based, but keeping the choir as an integral part of the music. Throughout a good portion of the song, there is also a series of blazing saxophone solos, recorded at Cervantes’ high school, Saint Josephs Prep. The song has the same overall feel of the intro to the EP, but with significantly more energy.
The final song on the EP, titled “Forever Burning Fire,” is entirely different song than the other two. For one thing, it is much more band-based with a somewhat roots-rock sound. Vocals are performed by Cervantes rather than a choir and the dominant instrument is an acoustic guitar throughout most of the tune. It does, however, have a similar tone as the other songs, which would be melancholy.
The EP is a pleasant listen overall and it was made with good intentions so definitely check it out.
Cervantes, as well as everyone in the recordings, will be performing the EP downstairs at World Cafe Live on May 13. Tickets are on sale now and can be purchased through World Cafe Live - Tri State Indie

New Jersey-based rock musician Frank Cervantes has shared a video for his song “Vagrants,” taken from his forthcoming record Terror of the Heart, which will be out later this month with a release show scheduled for May 24th at World Cafe Live. ”Vagrants” follows the early preview release of four other songs taken from the album and showcases a more aggressive indie rock style reminiscent of Delta Spirit. Along with his band, Cervantes masters a fast-paced, toss-caution-to-the-wind attitude with driving rhythm guitar and persistent drums. This might be projecting the title onto the mood of the song, but “Vagrants” is the kind of energized jam that makes you want to drop everything and hit the road. Check out the video below, and pick up tickets to the record release here. - The Key (WXPN's blog)

Although the (temporary) disintegration of The City Music Project was a tough pill to swallow for many fans, there has been one major positive to the band’s hiatus: Frank Cervantes has gone solo and is making truly great indie rock music.

After releasing his first solo album Forgotten Summer back in 2012, as well as the EP The Only Light, a charity record made in the interest of raising money for struggling music programs in Philadelphia, Frank Cervantes is back, and has announced the release of his new record- Terror of the Heart- due out May 20.

In celebration of his third solo record Cervantes has released four tracks from the album, available for streaming via Soundcloud. The tracks are a perfect conjuncture of melodic indie rock meets pounding, plugged in rock and roll, with heavy electric guitar riffs (thanks to Ryan Porcini) especially potent in “Gabriella” and “Pay it Forward”. The track “Tell Me (if it isn’t real)” is especially grabbing, with bluesy guitar melodies and Cervantes’ catchy, falsetto vocals carrying the track along in a cyclical motion. The title track, “Terror of the Heart”, is almost reminiscent of Fleet Foxes, with less of a “choral” arrangement, but the same style of far ranging vocals and addictive melodies.

In addition to the recently released tracks for our listening pleasure, Cervantes has also released a short documentary on Youtube, which you can watch below. Cervantes will host a record release party on Saturday, May 24 downstairs at World Cafe Live. Get tickets for the record release show here. Stream “Tell Me (if it isn’t real)” and “Terror of the Heart” below. - The Key (WXPN's Blog)

Frank Cervantes never intended to launch a campaign to help save music education in Philadelphia schools.
But the Moorestown singer-songwriter had a song, “The Only Light,” celebrating the innocence and possibility of youth and an idea to record it with a young choir.
And as he reached out to enlist the help of friends and colleagues at William Allen Middle School in Moorestown and St. Joseph’s Preparatory School in Philadelphia — both of which he attended — he was struck by the disparity between their thriving music curricula and the meager, and in many cases nonexistent, programs afforded children in the city’s public schools.
At William Allen, vocal music director Hope Knight arranged the harmonies for the seventh- and eighth-grade honors choir to sing on “The Only Light” and the students were recorded at the school. At St. Joe’s, music director Matt Schwartz played saxophone on the track and helped engineer the project with students in his music recording club.
“I was blown away by the amazing facilities these schools had,” said Cervantes, a contracted behavioral health worker for the School District of Philadelphia. “Knowing that some of the schools where I work — all they have are itinerant teachers for music and they don’t have any kind of budget for instruments or anything, I thought how great would it be if we used this project to do some good and help the situation by buying some instruments for these schools that have a lot less.”
“The Only Light,” with its blend of samba-spiked electronica and jazz, became not just the title track to a three-song EP available through his Bandcamp site (www.frankcervantes.bandcamp.com/) but the name of the charity he founded with Moorestown High School graduate Andrew Heusser.
All money raised through sales of the EP and a benefit concert at World Café Live in Philadelphia on Monday will go toward buying instruments for elementary schools.
With the district bracing to operate its schools with only a principal and skeletal teaching staff next year in the face of a $300 million deficit, Cervantes and Heusser also plan to recruit local college students to volunteer their time giving music lessons to inner-city kids.
“I’m always encouraging kids to explore learning an instrument,” said Cervantes, who was a full-time musician with outfits such as The Once Was, The Nice Guys and The City Music Project before he began working for the district. “I played trumpet in middle school and that was my segue into songwriting because it was my first introduction to actual music theory.”
For kids who lack similar opportunities, the effects have been well-documented, yet funding for arts education is usually the first to be cut during budget crises.
“(Music) is one of the only unique things human beings do innately and to see it being devalued and disappearing is a big mistake,” said Schwartz, also a St. Joe’s alum who played with Cervantes in his band Just Like Me.
That music programs are being eliminated as teachers are tasked with making learning a more communal and dynamic experience baffles him.
“These 21st-century skills are all about collaboration and creativity, and the first things to be cut are the most valuable resources where kids get to experience and practice those skills,” said Schwartz.
At William Allen, Knight said music and arts programs often offer kids who aren’t “standard learners” a place to excel.
Cervantes would rather not leave the fate of music education in Philadelphia up to the school district and City Council.
“What we want to do is encourage and influence people, especially musicians, to take control of the situation, to use our talents and use our good nature and in some ways take it upon ourselves to teach the kids or just expose them to good music,” he said.
In that spirit, he and Heusser, also a musician, have invited all the artists who worked on the EP to perform with them at the all-ages charity show at World Café Live. Post Departure, an indie band from Moorestown, several percussionists from the samba group Philly Bloco and singer-songwriter Sarah Kane will all take the stage, as well as the choirs from William Allen and the jazz band from St. Joe’s.
At the end of the night, all will come together to perform “The Only Light,” which was featured as a WXPN Philly Local Pick of the day last month.
For the students, the project serves as both thrill and lesson.
“What I’m hoping is that, in coming together and doing this, they understand they’re part of a larger group giving back to kids something we take for granted — the joy of music and the opportunity to make it,” said Knight. - Burlington County Times/phillyburbs.com