Rough Francis

Maximum Soul Power

Written by: PP on 17/02/2014 00:18:59

Rough Francis is a rock'n'roll band out of Burlington, Vermont, who according to their own words channel live energy from 60s garage rock, Motown and 80s hardcore on their debut album "Maximum Soul Power". The first two references are easily heard in their mix, as any fan of The Kinks or The Stooges would likely agree. The hardcore part doesn't really make any sense because primarily, Rough Francis concentrate on 70s-style rock'n'roll with groovy riffs, and a similar sense of raw production where lack of polished riffs is the driving force in their soundscape overall.

Occasionally, the band bring in additional instrumentation, such as on "Righteous", where a harmonica is featured prominently in the mix. Elsewhere, we're firmly located within the revivalist rock'n'roll style that Wolfmother perfected on their debut album; "I-90 East" basically sounds like said band cloned into a slightly punkier, The Kinks style rock'n'roll format.

But unfortunately for Rough Francis their overall expression isn't very interesting. It's very retrospective, but without a fresh take on the genre which is required to really stick out in a saturated genre. If you're going to re-interpret a style that has been buried for decades now because it became irrelevant, you better come up with something ingenious if you are to keep people's interest. That is simply not the case with "Maximum Soul Power".

5

Download: I-90 East, Black & Red, Righteous
For the fans of: The Kinks, The Stooges
Listen: Facebook

Release date 11.03.2014
Riot House Records

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