With its first three releases and about a decade worth of live shows across the region, The Frankl Project has honed a sound that has earned notice for its crafty blend of Rock, Pop, Punk and Ska. But the Cincinnati trio’s recent album, Standards, showcases the sound of a band finding its own unique voice and running with it.
While those aforementioned influences are still evident, the group skillfully and more subtly integrates them into something they can completely call its own. What hasn’t changed is that The Frankls (drummer/singer Joseph Frankl, guitarist/singer Jacob Tippey and bassist/singer Paul Schroder) still write excellent songs featuring hooks a plenty and often anthem-ready, spine-tingling choruses. But the variety of the album and the way the trio presents the songs is what makes Standards so magnetic.
Unlike most Pop Rock bands (especially ones that have a “Punk” element or pedigree), The Frankl Project doesn’t try to overload its tracks with giant-sounding guitars that fill every nook and cranny, opting instead to leave lots of space to create a distinctly airy aura. Allowing the tracks to breathe and rise and fall without resorting to predictable dynamics recalls the less-is-more approach that Indie Rock stars Spoon do so well and makes Standards a gripping listening experience. With that sonic elbowroom, the musicians’ intriguing individual parts are more perceptible (Frankl, in particular, is an incredibly musical drummer and his parts — like Tippey’s guitar work — are often captivating) and add to The Frankls’ uniqueness. But the stellar songwriting is still the primary focus.
The album kicks off with “Alive on the Road,” a swaying rocker that soars on the three musicians’ airtight harmonies, while “My Hands” has a rootsy sway that would make Jay Farrar nod along approvingly. After a string of heart-swelling, evocative Pop songs, the band throws in a few curves, like the jazzy but intense “Heart Shapes & Hand Grenades,” the quirky but still resonant Indie Pop gem “Find Your Way,” the ghostly, slow-burning “Chai Bones” and the album’s most rocking track, “The Ottoman.”
If Weezer, Bad Veins, Ben Folds Five, Sunny Day Real Estate and Band of Horses every decided to make an album together and hired a producer with expert knowledge on how to utilize atmosphere as another instrument (like Joe Henry, Brian Eno or Daniel Lanois), it might sound like an unfocused patchwork of lazy, hazy Pop. But, if they (and you) were lucky, it would sound more like The Frankl Project’s impressively creative Standards.
Visit thefranklproject.com for more about Standards and The Frankl Project.
