Solar Music 2023
& TIMOTHY FRANKLIN –
Anahata
Unhurt, unstruck and unbeaten, a nuclear American fraternity aims to hit their audience’s heart chakra – and do so in style.
Despite the Franklin brothers’ impressive resumés, in the recent years Michael has primarily been renowned for producing such prominent projects as Jon Anderson‘s "1000 Hands" and Robby Steinhardt’s "Not In Kansas Anymore" which hosted an astonishing array of guest musicians, and Timothy for helping his sibling bring these albums to fruition – but now the two, keeping extraneous input to a minimum, finally take their own blistering playing to the fore. Still, it’s not the pair’s intrinsic telepathy that’s the most thrilling thing on offer here; instead, it’s the nuanced fierceness of the Franklins’ fusion-infused performances that blows the listeners off their feet and doesn’t let go until the platter’s finale, where the brothers are left alone, face-to-face, to wind down this set of instrumental pieces with one featuring vocals.
However, all of the “Anahata” numbers – each composed by either Tim or Michael – can be called a song with no words, whether it’s the streamlined opener “Shinkansen” in which the relentless rumble of the former’s bass and the splashes of the latter’s ivories are awash with the TOWER OF POWER’s brass to pitch excitement in the record’s heart, and while the cut’s effervescence is elevated once Mini Moog and Fender Rhodes are unleashed and bottom-end strings are given a spank, the acoustically driven “The Wall” introduces touching, if scintillating, vulnerability to the saxello-spiced, percussive flow. Even more elegiac, Saint-Saëns-esque “Ave For Josephine” exudes a chamber aroma that will find Tim’s elastic lines pass their voice first to Larry Coryell’s exquisite lace and then to Michael’s rippling piano over the moving background of cello and violin, creating magnificence out of ether – the balladry bound to get swept away when the über-effusive “Maynardvishnu” whips up a big-band-like sway into the air and throws electric swirl higher and higher for Tommy Calton’s guitar to rage ‘n’ rave and Paul Parker’s drums to go wild.
Quite logically, “The River (Runs Through Memphis)” follows it on the elegant bluesy wave, with Michael’s Hammond showing the way, before the vibrant “Just Say So” turns the initial jungle vibe into a fiery samba as Steady Joseph’s beats fuel Tim’s energetic figures and Bill Boris’ intricate licks, and “Chiba Chan” opts for a trad jive with a virtuosic twist. Contrasting the preceding ebullience, the solemn “Pavanne For Deborah Ann” concludes the platter on a sorrowful, albeit life-affirming, uplift of an oratorio, a catharsis of sorts, rendering “Anahata” a little chef-d’œuvre.
*****
