Album Details

• Artist: Frank (ny)
• Album: Here Together
• Label: indie
• Year of Release: 2012
• ME Rating:
• Reviewed by: mark_morton on 2011-10-21

Frank, hailing from Brooklyn, NY, is an appropriate moniker, because the band makes no bones about what it does - straight-up, feel-good pub-rock! On its latest release, HERE TOGETHER, the band evokes just as much of the no-frills essence of 1970s hard rock as it does the coffee-amped college radio rock scene of the 1990s. However, Frank is a band that can only exist in the 21st century, having absorbed both eras with intense reverence while avoiding sounding dated. Frank is at once The Rolling Stones and Everclear, Kiss and Hootie & the Blowfish, and Eric Clapton and Third Eye Blind.

The band is hell-bent on creating the ultimate good-times atmosphere with rocking jams and easygoing ballads to match with all flavors of pleasurable inebriation. This is not to say that Frank avoids impassioned expression. Frank is just as emotive with acoustic instrumentation as it is with electrified rock-tastic-ness.

There is a casual free-spiritedness to the songwriting, where the emotion develops as a means of dealing with the seasons of life. They do not dwell upon angst as much as they acknowledge tribulations as parts of life that simply require reconciliation. Vocalist Scott Porter makes his point matter-of-factly without lecturing the audience. "Bayside" exemplifies this modus operandi with sincere, anecdotal narration.

The laidback attitude stands as a commandment to the band's focus and integrity. Frank is not a flavor-of-the-week, flash-in-the-pan, one-hit-wonder-seeking greenback-hound. The band is clearly sculpting its craft with long-haul diligence that will resonate with people of all generations.

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