Chicago indie rockers Fran help cushion the world’s tough blows with Leaving

Maybe the Chicago mayoral campaign is getting to me, but I’m tired of candidates who think any of the city’s problems can be solved by one person. (It’s even worse when that person wants to increase the police budget again.) On Leaving (Fire Talk), the new second album from Chicago indie-rock outfit Fran, front woman Maria Jacobson confronts some of the world’s potentially terminal problems—but she’s acutely aware of the limitations of the individual. On Leaving single “Palm Trees,” for instance, she evokes the harms of climate change—in one stanza, plants are threatened by a cold front, and in the next they catch fire. She delivers these words at a brisk pace but with a relaxed delivery, her downy voice providing a soft landing for her blunt descriptions. What can anyone do? It’s as though she’s gently asking that question, and gently answering: You may feel powerless to effect change alone, but we can find faith in one another and in our shared moment. All of Leaving seems to draw its strength from that hope, rooted in the collective will. On the album Jacobson worked with an ensemble of gifted locals—including members of Bret Koontz & Truancy Club, with whom she’s recorded as a flutist and vocalist—and the detailed delicacy of the subtly folky music will nudge you to savor every bit of its ephemeral beauty.

Fran The Hecks open. Fri 2/10, 8:30 PM, Constellation, 3111 N Western Ave, $15, 21+

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