You Could Do It All Again

Swervedriver’s Adam Franklin released his first album under the name, Bolts of Melody, along with many collaborators, on January 19. This isn’t the first time Franklin has launched the Bolts of Melody project, releasing two albums under the Adam Franklin & Bolts of Melody name. However, this 2024 rendition comes with a new, largely instrumental feel.

The name “Film Noir” is quite fitting, as this project feels like a film soundtrack at times and a film score at others. “555” is the first track on the album, featuring a colorful beat and one of the only instances of Franklin’s vocals.

While the project is meant to be instrumental at its core, simple vocals like this would go a long way to improve this album. One of the better songs is the penultimate track “Tomorrow’s World,” which sees the return of Franklin’s vocals on a track that has a lot of variety. It’s dramatic with elements of western sounds, which is not special to just this track.

Another standout song from “Film Noir” is “The Isle Full of Noises.” With an extremely mysterious tone, this one feels straight out of a spy thriller. “Church Scene” follows, showing additional variety with a scratching sound that plays behind the melodic tune. It creates this atmosphere that feels very individual in its sound and is ultimately another highlight in this project.

However, many of the other songs get lost in the shuffle, some getting repetitive throughout the runtime without something more, whether that be a tempo change or Franklin’s vocals. With that said, though, no song is the same and the project certainty has a lot of variation when it comes to genre. 

“Film Noir” accomplishes what it set out to do. The album as a whole feels like a movie soundtrack encompassing a wide range of film genres. The Bolts of Melody idea has been with Franklin since the creation of Adam Franklin & Bolts of Melody’s first album in 2010, followed up with his own 2015 album titled “Bolts of Melody.” This project feels like he’s captured the sound he’s been searching for with the help of the likes of Joshua Stoddard, Locksley Taylor and the other contributors to this solid debut project for Bolts of Melody.