How do you best the anti-guitar-god bluster of arguably the most sonically bold and melodically sophisticated band of England’s shoegaze era? If you’re Swervedriver’s unflappable former leader, Adam Franklin, you don’t even try. You simply work off the various templates for greatness set forth by your former outfit, which, quite frankly, spewed out enough novel ideas to sustain a half-dozen indie-rock careers. Which brings us to Franklin’s latest, I Could Sleep For A Thousand Years (Second Motion), whose initial tracks were hammered out in New York late last year with his newly minted backup outfit, Bolts Of Melody. Sleep is Franklin’s most well-rounded collection to date, balancing the more laid-back guitar balladry and pop sensibilities of his last two solo albums with the ornery, volatile spark of vintage Swervedriver largely missing on those efforts. Franklin will be guest-editing magnetmagazine.com all week. Read our brand new Q&A with him as well as our 2009 Lost Classics post on Swervedriver’s Mezcal Head.
Franklin: New York City’s A Setting Sun is Jay Bodley, a gentleman who produces crystalline, abstract, electronic moodpieces and has recently found doors opening for himself with remix requests from the likes of NIN. Not to be confused with the self-seeking indie opportunist of a similar name from upstate New York, Jay has really been getting his name out there and has recently released a new EP on Moongadget entitled Flower Garden Of Doom and has been putting together a live set that mixes together various elements including guitars and live visuals. This performance of “Flower Garden Of Clouds” was recorded live in January of this year at Brooklyn’s Glasslands.
“Flower Garden Of Clouds” (download):
https://magnetmagazine.com/audio/FlowerGardenOfClouds.mp3
