(Indie Rock) The Frank And Walters - Greenwich Mean Time - 2012, MP3, 320 kbps

The Frank & Walters once again flirt with pop perfection
Over the years, I’ve been a believer. An agnostic, sometimes an atheist when it comes to The Frank & Walters. But lately, I must admit I had lost touch with them completely.
What a pleasant surprise then to be presented with their new album and to find in it a series of timeless melodies, unforgettable choruses and, best of all, delivered with genuine conviction.
Even during the lean times, I always thought the band’s not-so-secret weapon was Paul Linehan’s voice; it has never sounded better than on this album. He even breaks, what I think, is new ground with a glorious falsetto in a couple of places (‘The Parson’ deserves special mention in this regard for its ingenious use of a chorus of “la-la’s”).
The Franks’ trademark rising basslines and reach-for-the-sky vocals are present and correct on ‘That’s Life’ and the knockout single ‘Indie Love Song’. But the highpoints of the album for me are where a few new, and unexpected, influences take hold.
I detected a hint of The Zombies’ baroque pop in the cascading synth and guitar picking of the gorgeous, affecting ‘Berlin’. Burt Bacharach would have been proud of the piano-brass interplay on ‘If I’d Known’. And ‘Each Tree’ has the classic pop sheen of Crowded House in its shimmering guitars – with the addition of greater vocal gusto to carry the theme of love regained.
Appropriately, for a band celebrating 20 years since its first album, the passage of time is a major lyrical thread. As they grow older (and we with them) there’s a clear manifesto of living in the now. That’s fine and commonsense as it goes, but the most appealing feature of the album for me is its relaxed atmosphere, the sound of a band comfortable in its own skin and still playing by its own agenda.
That, and the pop freshness of the vibrant arrangements, make this a bright and adventurous Frank & Walters’ album. Considering the times we live in, possibly their most relevant yet.