A.M.

Magnetic Morning

Friend or Faux

Nov 01, 2008 Year End 2008 - Best of 2008 By John Everhart

Magnetic Morning is a songwriting collaboration between Adam Franklin of Swervedriver and Interpol drummer Sam Fogarino, borne of mutual admiration of each other’s work. It began with the pair swapping and fleshing out the incipient sketches of Fogarino’s songs via email, and culminated with a fruitful recording session in Athens, Georgia, with Andy LeMaster of Now It’s Overhead at the helm, the results of which are contained here on their uniformly superb debut LP.

The gilded reverie of centerpiece track “No Direction” is downright anthemic, driven by Fogarino’s rhythmic kick-start urgency and the minor key, Byrdsian chime of Franklin’s guitar, while the languid shimmer of “Come Back” builds glacially, approximating the hazy, daydream sprawl of early Galaxie 500. “Motorway” astounds, translating the lyrics of Kraftwerk’s “Autobahn” to English, while jettisoning the Motorik patter soundscape of the original in favor of a fiercely scorching, guitar driven rave-up, one that’s akin to the more bombastic moments in Swervedriver’s oeuvre.

On the industrial stomp of closer “Athens 5,” Franklin resignedly laments, “If I’m feeling the weight of the world, I don’t need the weight from other worlds,” an appropriate sentiment for a record that veers from mellifluous lightness to impenetrable density at the drop of a hat. It’s also a distinctly idiosyncratic one, sounding only fleetingly like either Swervedriver or Interpol, but should nonetheless appeal greatly to fans of both. (www.magneticmorning.com)

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