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 Looking at it Lyrically 

Talking to Frank

Girls, girls girl?

Correction. Girl, girl, girl. The entire album seems to be a tribute, or dirge, to one particularly special or not so special girl. Often the inspiration for songs, with title like “wonder woman”, “when you’re around” and “confusion girl”, we can clearly see this. He’s not a misogynist, though I just think he’s a little pissed off. So yeah, don’t expect any manifestoes, or songs about wizards.

Just dance?

Yes and no. The tracks are very “dancy”. Take for instance “3 little words”(no clues for what they are). Falls into falsettos and has loads of eclectic electric instruments, and with lyrics like “…you won’t hear it now and you won’t hear it then”, highlighting how inherently cat and mouse the game that is “relationships” is, boys will be boys as they say. Also there is a sort of jazzy break which I love.

“Wonder Woman”, has an electrically Elton john feel about it, although I think that’s just down to the jolly and jaunty happy go luck style of piano playing. It’s a fun and a funny song, as Frank compares a wonder woman, confusing girl to the “Wonder Woman”. Arguing that wonder woman, although wonderful is also a woman and does indeed “get her nails done”, and can not do everything, so why should “you”, think you are invincible and not take a break from what ever it is you’re doing especially “when you seem to have run out of your superpowers”. Even wonder woman, needs looking after. Something to think about ladies……

“Better off as two” and “Confusion girl”, are both a heavily saturated electros song the latest realase. Better off as too, is very upbeat, cool cords in the bridge, and if you listen carefully you can hear the pianists prowess. The notes tell the story. And then you are catapulted by a synth sounding instrument or something as equally futuristic into the chorus. Which also elucidates, the idea of being better off by yourself and going into different futures. And then instruments drop out and you hear the lyrics of “We have made it far in the space of time, being on our own won’t work so why not just be mine”. Slightly paradoxical. This song also hear some of his range. Confusion girl, is very poppy. With a chorus of clicks, throughout. The nice block chords give the song, a happy feel. Yet if you look and listen carefully to lyrics, you see the subject is not a happy one. And it almost anecdotal as song, as he tells the story. It also seems didactic, speaking to young men, to be warned “you’ll get the blame, you’re part of her game, get swallowed up its such a shame, shame, shame”.

“Gotta boyfriend” has got a slightly 80’s feel, with cheeky cynicism as seen through lyrics like “So you’ve got a boyfriend…cos I know maybe we could we could share but I don’t think its very very fair”, and great harmonies, and is in fact one of my favorite up beat songs on the album. There are nice pulsating drum beat, and then an improtu improvisation, on the piano. And finally the thudding throb of the drum and the heart against falsetto of his voice. The think that I think is particularly cool about Frank’s musik is that even thought there is a lot of electronic sound. You can still hear his voice, and most songs like this one show the breadth of his range. He can sing! And it’s a cool slightly andogenous voice.

And although he makes electro music, yet he is a classically trained pianist. And you hear this throughout. This is seen more overtly in the song “your boy”, which is beautifully written, and played. As the piano changes, surreptiously into an electro instrument, with crescendos and decrescendos. The theme of change is shown through the lyrics as well as the instruments, as they surreptiously morphing into other instruments. This is one of those ephinanic moments on the album where the lyrics, instrumentation all match up, and everything’s in accord. Reminding us how interesting the album. And has any solitary echo of the last note. This one of my favourites.

Heatbreak hotel?

Such a sad place to be. And unequivocally frank has been there and back, even has the novelty mug, or perhaps feels like one. You really get the sense of him getting out his frustration. And this is for grounded almost immediately by the first song “in step”. Full of the melodrama and drama that is love, as seen through the multiple layers of backing. The sound on this song is almost electrically phonographic with nuances of Nintendo gameboy sounding instruments, reminding us love is a game. With winners and loosers, unfortunately.

“When you’re around” is a more optimistic song,hearkening back to a time when love was. The nostaligic lyrics “you make time rush right past, moments seem to go so fast” give a happy feel. Might I add his bridges and breaks are great. Here the bass of his voice on his voice is heard. With different drum beat fleeting in and out. The lyrics are both simple and heart felt “when your around life is the best”. The song becomes electrically existential. Life love and all that electro jazz.

“Vacant heart”. Spines the cliché empty heart on its head and its heart. The imagery conjured on this song is one of an empty house or hotel or heartel. The heart here tells its story, full neo-romanticism, it’s a very melancholic song. That many of us can identify with. With sad harmonies. The steady clap, almost seems to echo the sterdy beat of the heart, attempting to carry on, even in the midst of the tradgic. There are nice metaphors in the lyrics too which I particularly liked “now my walls are bare, the shadows that were once our things now seem to disappear”. Strangely I found I could hum along to whitney houston’s “I wanna dance with somebody”. Randoms.

“Time will tell”, is funky track. With lyrics like “I lost my girl…just take back whats left of this man, and he’ll try the best he can” it is here you start to notice, that frank is doing something extra-ordinary. His songs feel like ballads, yet this is almost masked, by the fact that the genre he chooses to do it in, it is one associated with light-heartedness, short lived and transient emotions. Yet his lyrics are ballad like, which are in some instances arguably timeless. Sometimes you can’t really hear or pay attention to what he’s saying. Its almost paradoxical. Dancing to such songs one may not necessarily notice what he’s talking about. But in doing that he manages to do something lateral with music, not falling into the cliché, or the predicable. A “bloke doing ballad” style. Yet in saying that these are sort of pseudo- ballads 21st century ones. Although some could argue it feels like this really cool electro-pop over powers on the dance , and then a suave dude grabs a mic and starts reading spoken word. Which could in turn be either interpreted as inappropriate or quiet clever. I’d go with the latter as the latter kind of seems like the album is a release for him. And so it could be argued that he distracts listeners, by having such layers so that they don’t actually listen to the lyrics, or rather, tries to make them hear both, and not just listen. Which might I say is no easy feat and is quiet clever.

Although we’ve come to the end of the road?

Yes I think he knows that hene the title “Complete me”. Which could be seen as have double meaning, it could be ironic or, just elucidating he is complete and doesn’t need anyone to do that. Perhaps its both or neither. Someone should really talk to him and ask. “Complete me” though, lovely. Its slightly ethereal, with its strings, and high tinkling and sparking voice. If songs were drinks, this would surely be “champagne”, amidst the bottles neon colored WKD, Chrystal, and barcardi tracks. Light, delicate, refined and oxymoronically sweet and bitter. A nice drum beating. And the fluctuations of highn notes. Some great falsettos Again a great, upbruptly stopped ending which leaves you wanting more.

“Run." Has a dark feel to it and has a cathartic feel, and is a great closing track. Shows the themes of the album which to me seem to be Exposure and Closure. Here there is a sense of finality. Both emotionally, lyrically, and the instrumentation and arrangement seems to be radically different. Lost of echo and drawn out notes. There is an array of calls and muffling as if, things are falling into a black hole. The song kind of finishes aprutly though like the end of the supranoes film when it ends mid sentence, you feel like dude I was just getting into that. Well sometimes that is best.

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