Spent Bullets

adam franklin delivers a lush, haunting album with melodies that will swirl round your head for ages. hints of burt bacharach, nick drake and other familiar influences weave in and out of 'spent bullets' - but don't be led astray: this is quintessential adam franklin, and every bit as heartfelt, intense and perfect as any swervedriver album. one can only hope that the masses will soon get the stuffing out of their ears and tune in. they won't be disappointed.

"Spent Bullets" sounds great. As he continues to evolve away from the harder sounds of Swervedriver, Franklin keeps finding more depths to explore in his distinctive sound and writing style. Nearly every note and guitar effect is recognizably Adam, but the layering is so much richer than in the past; it's sort of amazing that it was apparently recorded in just a couple of days. Overall it's a much more psychedlic and quiet album, which may make it a bit less approachable than, say "Bolts of Melody" was, but it's worth spending time to get to know.