The Franklys “Are You Listening”

We don’t know why, but the Swedish have always had a knack for producing great rock n roll bands. So knowing that two of The Franklys are from there is a good start. The other members are from East Anglia, perhaps not a Mecca for rock n roll but the home to the best football team in the world (the mighty Canaries). Although it’s their promise of delivering an album that is a ‘versatile record as possible with a mixture of energetic pop rock songs together with garage, punk, indie, hard rock and funk’ that really brought them to our attention.

The Franklys certainly make sure that you are listening right from the start by kicking the album off with the explosive “Castaway”. It’s a hard hitting slice of Indie rock. Songs like “Weasel” and “Too Tall” take their style and melody from an indie or alternative sound but they’re definitely delivered with more of a punchy rock feel.

Things get even heavier with the rumbling bass of “Puppet”, a song which delivers a neat guitar swagger alongside a punky attitude. It’s followed by the brooding “Keeper” which you would imagine is a huge song when played live.

By the time we get to “You Go, I Leave” we’re kind of reminded of the brilliant L7. Like that band, The Franklys serve up indie punk songs such as “Don’t Kill Your Friends” and “Come Down” but deliver them with a sense of spite. The album then appropriately concludes with the angst driven “Bad News”.

With this release, The Franklys deliver something that has been sadly missing from lots of alternative rock acts these days… attitude. Importantly it doesn’t come across as marketing man driven attitude but instead a genuine demonstration of passion. It’s the sound of a band appealing to disenchanted people. There’s certainly plenty of them around at the moment so the timing should be perfect for this release.