“It’s truly thrilling to hear Franklin amped up again and belting out urgent guitar anthems like opener 'Seize the Day' and 'Shining Somewhere.' The vocals certainly sound more weathered, and the effects rack has most likely been trimmed down a little from his Swervedriver days, but these two immediate standouts are unmistakably the sound of man enjoying his music.” -- No RipcordAdam Franklin spent the 1990s as singer, guitarist and main songwriter for London-based Swervedriver, the genre-breaching Creation Records rock band. Since then, he's collaborated with friends (most recently, a project with Interpol drummer Sam Fogarino called The Setting Suns) and led the ambient/experimental Toshack Highway. Now, in support of his solo debut, Franklin has announced a string of tour dates.
Franklin's former band Swervedriver remains a widely lauded, albeit confounding musical legend. Was it dream pop? Was it shoegrunge? Listeners could always shuffle the words “dream”, “grunge”, “pop”, “shoe” and “melange” to their own tastes, but what remains consistent even to this day is the diehard dedication of Swervedriver fans. Certainly the group's heavy melodies incorporated traces of The Stooges, The Velvet Underground, Husker Du and Sonic Youth, but it never fit conveniently into a singular genre. Swervedriver's live shows were known for being loud and hypnotic with soaring, hook-laden tunes about UFOs and driving through the desert in the middle of the night.
Since Swervedriver went into orbit in 1999, Franklin has experimented with a number of stylings on six releases under the name Toshack Highway and one appearance on a compilation album under his own name. Franklin's forthcoming seventh post-Swervedriver solo album, Bolts of Melody is his first under his own name.
Franklin's newer work alternates between a full band sound with acoustic/electric guitars, electric keyboards and bubbly Moogs played through guitar effects pedals -- someone described the first album as “Spacefolk.” Sometimes, it's a much more back-to-basics affair -- just Franklin on his own playing simple melodic pop songs accompanied by the warm glow of the compression of the tape machine. Bolts of Melody is occasionally a little electronic and sometimes a little bit psychedelic, a little bit country, a little bit rock'n'roll.
Bolts Of Melody features Franklin's recent “Syd's Eyes” single and “Birdsong (Moonshiner Version),” which were previously only available as a Black Mountain seven inch and a Shifty Disco download-only release respectively. Fans of Franklin’s Setting Suns project can check out a few tracks posted on the duo’s MySpace page (LINK).
Adam Franklin Live:
07/15 Portland, OR Jackpot Records (In-store)
07/16 San Francisco, CA Cafe du Nord
07/17 Los Angeles, CA The Echo
07/18 San Diego, CA The Casbah
08/21 Allston, MA Great Scott
08/22 Hoboken, NJ Maxwell's
08/23 New York, NY Cake Shop
08/24 Philadelphia, PA Johnny Brenda's
08/25 Arlington, VA IOTA Club
Bolts of Melody Tracklisting:
Stream The Album HERE
01 Seize the Day (MP3)
02 Sundown
03 Morning Rain
04 Song of Solomon
05 Theme from LSD
06 Shining Somewhere
07 Birdsong (Moonshiner Version)
08 Canvey Island Baby
09 Syd’s Eyes (MP3)
10 Walking in Heaven’s Foothills
11 Birdsong
12 Morning Rain (Return)
13 Ramonesland
On The Web:
www.adamfranklin.com
www.myspace.com/toshackhighway
www.hispeedsoul.com
www.myspace.com/hispeedsoulmusic
www.fanaticpromotion.com/current/adam_bolts.html
Subscribe to Fanatic:
Web: www.fanaticpromotion.com
Blog: www.fanaticpromotion.blogspot.com
MySpace: www.myspace.com/fanaticpromotion
New Media: www.myspace.com/fanaticnewmedia
Podcast: www.itunes.com/podcast?id=253103575
LastFM: www.last.fm/user/fanaticpro
YouTube: www.youtube.com/fanaticpromotion
News: feeds.feedburner.com/FanaticPromotionNewsfeed
No comments:
Post a Comment