A New England native, Pete Francis first came to fame in the late 1990s as a founding member of alternative roots powerhouse Dispatch, whose remarkable rise from Middlebury College to Madison Square Garden helped rewrite the rulebooks for modern indie bands. Though few knew it at the time, Francis was fighting an increasingly difficult battle with depression throughout his years of relentless touring and recording, and after taking multiple leaves of absence, he eventually made the decision to step away from the band entirely in order to focus more fully on his health and wellbeing.

In addition to therapy and medication, Francis turned to songwriting as a means of self-care, and back in Middlebury, CT, he began mentoring younger artists just beginning their journeys. While he’d released solo albums over the course of his tenure with Dispatch, his new material in the wake of his departure from the band was different than anything he’d ever created. 

That juxtaposition of darkness and light lies at the heart of PTRN SKY!, Francis’ captivating new album and first full-length release since his 2019 departure from Dispatch. The writing is intensely raw and vulnerable, wrapping deeply personal reflections inside layers of lush, dreamy synthesizers. The result is an unflinching glimpse into the subconscious of an artist learning to make peace with the struggle that threatened to rob him of everything he held dear, an aching yet ultimately triumphant testament to the power of love and art to make us feel whole again, even at our most broken.