Magnetic Morning
(Friend or Faux Recordings)
Swervedriver frontman Adam Franklin has the perfect voice to put across these richly textured narcoleptic daydreams, drifting through the velvet fog with a half-whispered sigh like he's Elvis Costello on brandy and cough syrup. By the time he and Interpol drummer Sam Fogarino have taken the Shangri-Las "Out in the Streets" and very slowly driven home the underlying heartache of the storyline, they've more than made good on the promise of that haunting five-song EP from late last year (which itself had included a heartbreaking cover of the Kinks' "The Way Love Used To Be").
This time out, they ease in with the melancholy majesty of "Spring Unseen" and spend most tracks in that same dream state, although "At a Crossroads, Passive" does indulge in a bit of the noisy guitar squall one might look for in a Franklin project.
Standout Tracks: "Spring Unseen," "Out in the Streets" A. WATT
