Specializing in melodic, jangling indie pop with a lo-fi bent, JW Francis is a New York-based musician whose D.I.Y. ethos and breezy songwriting earned him an international following in the late 2010s. After signing with U.K. indie label Sunday Best, he released a series of engagingly offbeat albums including 2021's Wanderkid and 2023's Dream House.

Born in Tulsa, Oklahoma, and raised in Paris, the singer, songwriter, and multi-instrumentalist eventually found his way to New York City, where he began his music career. A D.I.Y. enthusiast from the start, Francis began crafting tuneful lo-fi pop songs that took influence from icons like Jonathan Richman and the Velvet Underground but celebrated the vibrant indie scene of mid-2010s New York. While working as a licensed city tour guide, he began releasing a string of independent singles and EPs, beginning with 2018's I'll Love You Forever, Bye. His buoyant melodies and nimble guitar leads, especially on songs like 2019's "Lofi," helped Francis build a grassroots audience, and in 2020 he signed with U.K. imprint Sunday Best Recordings.