"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 a man enjoying his music.” -- No Ripcord“Swervedriver fans who've missed the band's molten guitar-pop sound ought to perk up immediately at 'Seize The Day,' the first song on Adam Franklin's debut solo album, Bolts Of Melody... When Franklin dips into the trippy, syrupy surf-rock instrumental 'Theme From LSD,' or the spacious, whammy-afflicted ballad 'Morning Rain,' his trademark crumbling sound is still transporting. It's good to have him back, and on point.” -- Noel Murray, The Onion AV Club
Adam Franklin spent the 1990s as singer, guitarist and main songwriter for London-based Swervedriver (LINK), 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. This week, in support of his recently released solo debut, Franklin launches a short East Coast tour for the end of August with Hopewell as support. The singer/guitarist will commence a nationwide tour in October (See complete tour dates below.)
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 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 seventh post-Swervedriver solo album, Bolts Of Melody is his first under his own name. The album has received considerable critical praise since its release this summer.
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 Black Mountain seven-inch and Shifty Disco download-only releases respectively.
In addition to his Toshack Highway and forthcoming albums, Adam Franklin's collaboration with Interpol drummer Sam Fogarino, The Setting Suns is in the works. The power duo has posted a few new tracks on its MySpace page (LINK).
Adam Franklin Live:
* w/ Hopewell
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 Cafe *
10/02 Norfolk, VA The Boot
10/03 Chapel Hill, MC Local 506
10/04 Mt. Pleasant, SC Village Tavern
10/05 Atlanta, GA The Earl
10/06 Birmingham, AL The Bottletree
10/07 Baton Rouge, LA TBA
10/08 Houston, TX Proletariat
10/09 Austin, TX The Mohawk
10/10 Dallas, TX The Cavern
10/11 Memphis, TN Hi /Tone
10/12 Nashville, TN The Basement
10/13 St. Louis, MO Bluebird
10/15 Kansas City, MO The Record Bar
10/16 Omaha, NE The Waiting Room
10/17 Minneapolis, MN 400 Bar
10/18 Chicago, IL Empty Bottle
10/19 Milwaukee, WI Cactus Club
10/20 Ypsilanti, MI Elbow Room
10/21 Columbus, OH Andyman's Treehouse
10/22 Cleveland, OH Beachland Ballroom
10/23 Pittsburgh, PA Club Café
10/24 Buffalo, NY Mohawk Place
10/25 Toronto, Ontario Drake Hotel
10/26 Ottawa, Ontario Zaphods Beeblebrox
10/27 Montreal, Quebec The National
Bolts Of Melody Tracklisting:
Stream The Album HERE
Release Date: June 26th, 2007
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:
http://www.adamfranklin.com/
www.myspace.com/toshackhighway
http://www.hispeedsoul.com/
http://www.blogger.com/www.myspace.com/hispeedsoulmusic
http://www.blogger.com/www.fanaticpromotion.com/current/adam_bolts.html
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