The Frank and Walters - 'Glass', 2 October 2000
The fourth album from The Frank & Walters is a strange thing. They have made a record which somehow invokes the ghosts of Eighties bands like A-ha or A Flock of Seagulls, and sounds like U2 with a smaller budget or a more sincere Lightning Seeds. Perhaps this is the sound of a band in some kind of transition or questioning phase, and the self-consciousness has affected the album. Don't get me wrong, there are some really good songs on this, some really strong pop writing, expert use of hooks, melodies, etc, and it does get better with every listen. "Sinking" is a really beautiful song and there are others every bit its equal, "Talking about you", "Forgiveness" to name a few.
It's just that sometimes they seem to be trying just a little too hard, maybe for a change of direction, maybe for the big pop hit. Who knows, except the band themselves. Take the opening track "Underground" for example. The first single from the album, it's the only song to be mixed by "name producer" Flood, and seems very obviously built to encourage mass consumption, but comes at the price of sacrificing the song itself. A four-to-the-floor stomp, ostensibly about the liberating power of music, it's actually kind of stifling and overbearing when you listen to it. And therein lies the crux of the problem. The Frank & Walters are a song band, and the kitchen sink approach to production does them no favours. Submerging all traces of a performance underneath an avalanche of big synths and strange drum noises just makes an otherwise enjoyable moment sound laboured and artificial. They are much better when they allow themselves some room to breathe, when they manage to incorporate their production ideas into their music. Superimposing sounds over songs doesn't always make it interesting, sometimes it just keeps the listener on the outside. Like I said, strange.