Don’t Worry, Be Happy

Pro-surfer turned indie rocker Donavon Frankereiter recently released his fourth album, Glow on his own label Liquid Tambourine Records. The album produced by Mark Weinberg took the duo only three days to produce and goes to the heart of what we love about Frankenreiter’s music- the indie rock surf pop.  I was first introduced to the surf rocker, back in 2004 with his self-titled debut release and his tour with surfing pal Jack Johnson.  After such a big splash (no pun intended) on the music scene,  Donavon’s taking a chance with Glow to talk about everything from love and the equally opposite hard times and everything that falls in between.

With Glow, Frankenreiter stays true to what he knows best in the world of laid back surf rock, and there’s no denying that it wouldn’t be the type of savvy mellow rock we’d expect to hear from him.  The title track, “Glow,” is especially radio friendly with rapidly short guitar strings and Frankenreiter’s raspy voice providing the perfect mix. The lush strings and mellow hooks in “Keeping Me Away From You” inspires a ’70s bluster while “Hold On” is filled with a catchy bluesy folk tone and “Shadows” channels a more apathetic indie pop beat with unhurried lyrics and a relaxed musical backing.

There are no frills, no pretension on Glow. There’s no spending hours trying to analyze the lyrics only to be left still be left clueless, but rather a man and his guitar, singing about everything that we all can relate to in life and love, and still making great music for everyone to enjoy.