Adam Franklin – Bolts of Melody

Adam Franklin – Bolts of Melody

By

Jesse E. Mullen

 

 

You’ve led a moderately successful, highly influential band for eight years. You put out records on Creation and partied with Alan McGee. And then you break up that band, sell your studio, and go into the wilderness for a few years. 

You start cutting albums which blend your signature voice with your growing interest in samples and loops. They are not well-received.

Fast forward to 2007, and things are looking up for you again. You’ve secretly reformed your old band with the classic lineup, and plan to tour later in the year. You’ve got your own record label and have several small releases in the pipeline. But best of all, you’ve just released your first “rock” album in nine years.

So goes the story of Adam Franklin, lead singer and guitarist for Oxford quartet Swervedriver. And how does this album stack up against his past work? Pretty damn well, it turns out. Sure, there will be those that gripe about a “step backwards” whenever an artist does a return to an old sound. But it’s hard to complain when the material here is so uniformly excellent. 

“Seize The Day” is a triumphant return to the alt rock of Swervedriver’s 99^th Dream, but with swaggering wah-wah guitars and a stop-start rhythm. “Morning Rain” is a haunting slow burner with delayed slide guitars and languid yet ethereal vocals.

But the most interesting pair of tracks is the two versions of “Birdsong.” The first version subtitled “moonshiner version,” is a haunting finger picked solo guitar and vocal recording. The second is a full-band rendition with power pop guitars and a laid-back groove.

Consistency may lead to middling work in some artists, but Adam Franklin is not one of them. With Bolts of Melody, Adam Franklin may be charting familiar territory, but he is also evoking the spirit of classic Swervedriver.

Hi-Speed Soul/2007