From The ’90s To Now

Scheduled to release their first full length LP on August 19th, 2022, Franklin Gothic’s major debut, Into The Light, utilizes techniques with classic success in the industry. Although a smaller indie artist and new to the scene overall, the Portland-based Franklin Gothic (Jay DiBartolo), is a pro at immersing listeners immediately into his trippy and saturated musical journey inspired from his childhood growing up in the early ’90s. What makes this album unique is how each of the tracks is represented by a color, however the album itself shows a distorted DiPartolo in a greyscale photograph. This opposition of colors from the individual tracks to the full album is a clever trick on words. Into The Light even suggests a visual theme with viewing color. It is  clever that these themes comes back in the tracks as well.

Before the main release of the album, three singles were released prior. Each one features a different primary color and all three feel like a streamlined trio of the best of what the album has to offer. Of the three released, the debut of “Mr. Hangman” seems to be the most streamlined and musically sound. With lyricism of the song focusing on a game that many have grown up with–hangman–DiPartolo is able to create a simple and easy to understand analogy of feeling physically “cut off” from the world and feeling left behind. The lyrics reflect this lost feeling, “Sometimes we are the fools getting sad and lonelier.”

All of Into The Light focuses on adolescence that comes with growing up and the turbulence that can come with it. The song itself features instruments common in the indie rock world, however it never feels repetitive or overused tropes, and although the lyrics thematically focus more on development and insecurities, the songs themselves sound cheery and are mostly in major keys. This paradoxical use of contrasting smooth and light listening with fairly existential and dark lyrics is commonly seen yet is executed well in Franklin Gothic’s release.

All of the songs on the album are absolutely dripping with ’90s nostalgia. Many of the instrumental choices also reflect music that was released in this era as well. In “Spark,” the track features fairly heavy percussion and guitar throughout. Although never to the full extent of rock, the song feels like it was released in that decade with its older influences and not in 2022. Similar instrumental patterns can be seen in “Slow Down Bang Bang” with almost succinct ideas to ’90s rock bands such as Nirvana with its famous bassline and percussive elements. Yet, Franklin Gothic is able to keep these ideas fresh and are not just carbon copies of the originals which will keep their music timeless for decades to come.

Although this is Franklin Gothic’s first full release on major platforms, they shows major promise with its first major LP Into The Light. With focusing on nostalgia of the ’90s by utilizing musical timbres of the era as well as contrasting lyricism of the turbulent struggles growing up, Franklin Gothic has developed a refined sound to this album. With a success under their belt, DiBartolo looks onwards to even greater musical horizons in future solo projects.