Adam Franklin - 'Bolts of Melody'

Swervedriver may have burned out back ’99, but the band’s former frontman Adam Franklin has continued on. In between starting new bands like Toshack Highway and Setting Suns (with Interpol drummer Sam Fogarino. Righteous!), the duder somehow managed to also crank out a solo album. But it may be perhaps because of all these divergent ventures that said disc, Bolts of Melody, comes off a tad flat and uninspired.

Franklin walks a weird line between country rock and psychedelia, though, and when he’s on, he’s pretty on. Album opener “Seize the Day” is a quick-shot distillation of Franklin’s songwriting style – twangy, slurred, and ever so slightly eerie. Unfortunately, it’s also kind of a clunker, which is extra depressing given that it’s one of the peppiest tunes on Bolts of Melody. None of the songs manages to remain as concise as “Seize the Day,” save for a reprise of the song “Morning Rain,” but that doesn’t really count. Rather, the record just kind of meanders along pointlessly.

But there are some moments of glory to be found as well. Tracks three, four, and five, “Morning Rain,” “Song of Solomon,” and “Theme from LSD,” respectively, are tripped out slow burners. Swervedriver was always misclassified as shoegazer; but on these tunes, Franklin captures the ethereal mood of the genre without sounding derivative of it (r.e. – you can make out what few lyrics surface! Wowzers!). “Theme from LSD” drops vocals in favor of a five minute drugged out jam session, building on simple guitar-monies to provide a sexy musical romp.

The album begins to decline come track six, “Shining Somewhere,” though. From this marker, Franklin sounds like a lot of great acts, but that’s not the same thing as being a great act. The guitar work gets a little more atmospheric on “Shining Somewhere,” but in comparison to more recent rock acts like Autolux and The Raconteurs, Franklin is outclassed. “Birdsong (Moonshiner Version)” channels Nick Drake, but the lyrics are too inept to elicit the same emotional reaction something like Pink Moon would warrant.

On Bolts of Melody, Franklin is a jack of all trades, and a master of dull songwriting. He’s a fairly redundant lyricist, often repeating meaningless phrases (e.g. - “You said you’d find a way” on “Morning Rain,” “Shining somewhere” on, that’s right, “Shining Somewhere”) in lieu of conveying a fully fleshed out message. At least the album proves that Franklin can jam on occasion. However, the musical restraint he brings to Bolts of Melody keeps this release from being worth much.