Adam Franklin - Spent Bullets

Too strong for shy shoegazers, Adam Franklin’s old band, Swervedriver, were often lumped in with labelmates Ride or My Bloody Valentine, but in reality owed more to the emerging grunge scene over the Atlantic. Rather than the strummed and drummed, epically dreamy sounds of that much-maligned 90s genre, Franklin offered a more focused, rawer approach to sonic experimentation. He recently hooked up with Sam Fogarino of Interpol to form Magnetic Morning, mining the same cathartic, distorted veins of emotion. His second solo album Spent Bullets is a melodic hymn to the power and possibility of the guitar. It’s a mellower, more introspective work than fans of his earlier work might expect, but that’s perhaps inevitable with age – even Iggy Pop seems to prefer New Orleans jazz these days. It all equates to a pleasing release, especially on Bolts of Melody and Big Sur (fortunately not a Thrills cover). [Euan Ferguson]