Paul Francke (musician)

Paul Francke is an American songwriter and instrumentalist. He formed the space rock band Alsace Lorraine in 1998 with guitarist Hewson Chen, who was then recording with the Parasol Records group Vitesse. Alsace Lorraine's first album, 'Through Small Windows', was a hit within its genre of indie space rock, leading to a US tour. Pitchfork Media's breaking review compared the album's sound to the English group St Etienne, a comparison further borne by 2007 (and continuing) collaborations with St Etienne's producer Ian Catt. Francke's group performed at Austin, Texas' South By Southwest festival in 2002. He produced scattered compilation tracks over the years that followed before both enrolling in an Episcopalian seminary and beginning a collaboration with an avowedly atheist friend, Isol. Francke's work with Isol and friends, the Darla Records album 'Dark One', precipitated a Public Radio International performance in New York in 2007. With Isol, Ian Catt, and other previous collaborators, Paul Francke has been preparing a third Alsace Lorraine record for 2010. Although Alsace Lorraine is not a religious project, Francke is to be ordained an Episcopal priest in late 2009, focusing on academic work. He has served as a deacon at Columbia University and St. Mark's Episcopal Church (Philadelphia, Pennsylvania). In the Summers when academic ministries subside, he volunteers in the clergy of St. Mark's Church in-the-Bowery, in New York City.