Review: "Stray" by Warren Franklin

Brand New and Against Me! have built up pretty solid respective repertoires of acoustic material, and our friend Warren Franklin (of the Infidel Castrones and Weight In Words) has accomplished something rather amazing with the release of his debut solo album, Stray. In a live setting, Warren is prone to getting shit for playing Against Me! and Brand New covers, but this record, while it keeps those influences close, remains steps away from having the comparisons completely nailed shut: Warren abuses his vocal chords like Tom Gabel used to, and haunts us like the acoustic songs from that Fight Off Your Demons demo that leaked a few years ago. He's even got the same first name of Against Me!'s old commodity of a drummer (No Warren Iraq!).  But from the content of the lyrics to the variety of his delivery, Warren transcends the spectrum composed by the two bands. It's easy to imagine an entire band backing Warren up throughout most of the record: "Excess In Moderation" documents what-could-have-been for Against Me! if they stuck closer to the ideals they laid out on "Reinventing Axl Rose". But enough with the comparisons already.

Everyone's always looking for an honest songwriter. If that's so, why is there so much bullshit on the airwaves? And how's this for honesty?: "Anytime I've been acting like a dick I try to calm myself out" (lyric from "A Mutual Respect")

The first song, "Art Show" is the perfect introduction to the album: It begins with an intensity that reminds us the acoustic guitar is not reserved to the Jack Johnsonites of the world (although if they can handle the raw emotions on "Stray," they'll find some good riffs to rip off at the next bonfire). The first verse begins with Warren singing at a near-yell, but inserts the most beautiful use of falsetto since Matt Sharp was in Weezer. The shouted refrain, "You're the one who bites my tongue for me every time I clear my throat" is so sick. There's intense riffage, delicate riffage and some original Oooo's.

Once upon a time in a poetry class, my professor wouldn't let us use the word "flow." But there is something about how this album progresses from song to song that adds to the dynamics of the album, making it seem like it was all thought up at once. From the back-and-forth intensity of "Art Show" comes "God Given Right," which, if you listen to the first 10 seconds and then  fast-forward to the last ten, will fucking shock the listener: It goes from a very ChadBroChill riff into a soft verse with a subversive melody. Then, nothing can restrain the lines "This year Halloween was on a Friday night/ If you got something to say/ Go ahead and say it,"from being shouted as the song builds towards its cataclysmic end, which has Brandon Lutmer of our favorite band Joie De Vivre alongside Warren in screaming, "Is your heart in the right place?"