Ted & Francis

"...Ted & Francis, the new incarnation of Sydney duo Like Woah! followed – and gosh, they’ve come a long way since their live debut just four months ago. A writhing throng of hyped-up teenagers is perhaps not the ideal audience to showcase their slick dancefloor ballads, but this charismatic pair still managed to captivate those sober enough to appreciate the delicately pretty Erlend and Think About Enough from their recently-released self-titled EP." - Faster Louder

You must be familiar with our passionate love for Australian music. It’s hard to understand then why we never said a word about Ted & Francis. (Although we covered their other project Like Woah!) They’ve been around for a while, getting more and more hype with each release. Now, that they’ve sent their Sebastien Tellier remix around and we’re getting close to their own debut on Kitsuné, it’s time we make up for this mistake. So the guys are actually David and Rhys (not to confuse with Ted and Francis), from Sydney and in their early 20s. And they make good music. They are sensitive to pop, mixing it in the cutting edge fashion and adding those amazing keys + synths. Vocals are dreamy and hypnotic so totally following the footsteps of Cut Copy and the French 80s-revival. Of course, you can hear the influence of traditional synth-pop and of great heroes like Prince and Michael Jackson." - Kunk

Sydney musicians Rhys Taylor and David Webber have been gaining recognition in the electronic music scene for some time now as Like Woah!, a dance-floor friendly electro act in the same vein as Justice and Soulwax. Ted and Francis is their latest musical adventure, an offshoot created so the guys could explore some softer, poppier sounds using live instrumentation.


“We kept on writing different types of tunes,” says Taylor, “we had the Like Woah! stuff, which was just very dance-floor friendly, and then we moved into writing softer songs. We realised it would be easier to do it under two names, and do the dance stuff under one name, and the more chilled stuff under another.”


“Like Woah! stuff is made basically to be pressed on vinyl, it’s made to be played by DJ’s. Whereas the Ted and Francis stuff, we’re not adding 16 bar intros at the beginning to make it easier for a DJ to play. It’s for people to listen to at home.”


The band cites artists such as Daft Punk, Air, and 70’s disco pioneer Arthur Russell as musical inspirations. Rhys said, “I don’t think there’s a particular sound we’ve knocked off. We’ve just kind of amalgamated all the different influences and kind of squished them together.”


I was lucky enough to catch their debut gig at Oxford Arts Factory, where they presented their “sophisticated, geeky take on pop” before an appreciative crowd of skinny-jeaned, immaculately bearded hipsters. Battling first show nerves, Ted and Francis delivered an amazing set, seamlessly blending their electronic elements with live guitars, keyboards and vocals. The resulting sound was a breezy and unique form of pop, as relaxing and exotic as sipping rum from a coconut on a deserted island.


Taylor’s vocals were a highlight - deep and emotive, yet pleasantly melodic. (He explained this to me later as trying to sound like a mix between Ian Curtis from Joy Division, and a bad R ‘n’ B singer).


Their final song, a stomping version of first single Erlend, had the crowd heating up the small underground cavern, many people singing along to the chorus.
Ted and Francis have been signed to Kitsune, and are currently touring the country. They plan to expand the band in the coming months, adding a live drummer, and reducing the need for a backing track. “These first shows are just a taster of what the band does,” said Taylor. “I think at the moment we’re just giving people a hint of what we do.”


Ted and Francis are definitely a band to keep an eye on.
- On The Record (Zine)