Artist: Michael Franti & Spearhead
Label: EMI Records
Release: 2011
Rating: 2.5/5
What does the artistic reach of your album look like when you’re buddies with Barack Obama, the almighty Bono picks you as his opening act, you become part of the ZooTVropa touring entourage, and on top of all that you’re deeply God-fearing? Michael Franti, an orphaned newborn who was adopted by others, must have suffered unknowingly for years from missing the warmth of real parents. He made up for that “rejection” by putting on the mask of universal likability. His music is therefore extremely easygoing, positive, accessible to everyone, and trivial. It demands no philosophy, but it doesn’t have any particularly deep range of expression either.
Of course, that kind of marginality is crowned with broad acceptance and, in Franti’s case (and this is very important), commercial success too. The album “Sound Of Sunshine” is saturated with positive vibes. Franti basically keeps “turning four major chords on a spit,” only slowing them down or ramping them up with different rhythmic backing as needed.
Luckily, his approach is stripped of synthetics and infused with the warmth of organic collages, usually dictated by acoustic guitar accompaniment. Pleasant keyboard sounds slot into that backdrop to break up the monotony, and the thing is roughly saved. The rhythms are usually beefed up with hand claps, which gratefully adds some liveliness to the album’s sonic content.
The title track appears on the album in no fewer than four versions, that’s how much Franti liked it. The album opens and closes with it. The infectious melody of a chorus full of positive, celebratory, carefree energy is of course the key to that decision. At the end, the album tacks on three variations. The first is a mellower, more intimate version carrying the full extended title Sound Of Sunshine Gong Down. But since everyone wants to be friends with Franti, the other two versions feature two guests. The first is Lorenzo Jovanotti. As a result, the verses are tailored so that Jovanotti can contribute his part of the duet in Italian. The fourth version of the song swaps the Italian for Spanish, with the Spanish verses supplied by guest Dan Macaco. None of the versions sparks a new musical revolution; their function is padding out the disc with extra minutes. Still, only the strictly die-hard Michael Franti fans will be happy about them. The shallow Say Hey (I Love You) is really just a rehash of the title track, which confirms the artist’s marginality and, frankly, his lyrical emptiness. It also reflects his shortage of new ideas.
The rest of the material is doled out with songs that owe their rhythms to reggae (Shake It, Anytime You Need Me, Only Thing Missing Was You). The infectious and breezy Hey Hey Hey, with added string arrangements, doesn’t hide the hip-hop springboards in its verse, inherited from Franti’s past work in The Disposable Heroes of Hiphoprisy.
Hey. And that’s not all. The album even smells a little rock ‘n’ roll, believe it or not! I’ll Be Waiting is basically a lost U2 track from the late eighties, recorded in Jamaica. That’s just a joke! It’s simply the general feeling you get listening to Michael Franti’s I’ll Be Waiting. The listener gets a similar vibe from the lively Headphones, which owes quite a bit to the Rolling Stones legacy. Of course, the whole thing smells distinctly Jamaican.
Gloria can finally boast a truly genuine, personal note. It’s a ballad-leaning song where Franti even becomes “tangible” in the verses. Of course, you have to keep in mind that Franti is a very good singer, and the marginal, occasionally sugar-coated corny messages work well enough in his vocal delivery. The man has a sense for adapting and building things up. He adds a soul touch with a hint of improvisation, which comes through especially in the album’s subtler moments, like the song Gloria itself.
“Sound Of Sunshine” is simply an album within the range of Michael Franti and his band Spearhead. No more, no less. It proves there’s no evolution or progress. It walks the tried-and-true paths of musical triviality, a mix of world music, pop, reggae, and (even) rock. There are no real ideas, so the songs sound very much alike. What’s more, overdoing it with four versions of the title track is the first real proof that this is an album without genuine creative inspiration. Still, its bland expressive reach is enough to win over the devoted hearts of those listeners who have faithfully stuck with consuming Franti’s musical products over the years.
Lineup
Michael Franti – vocals, guitar
Dave Shul – guitar
Jason Bowman – guitar
Rallegh Neal – keyboards
Carl Young – bass guitar
Menas Itene – drums
Production
Michael Franti & Jason Bowman
Tracklist
1. The Sound Of Sunshine
2. Shake It (feat. Lady Saw)
3. Hey Hey Hey
4. Anytime You Need Me
5. I’ll Be Waiting
6. Only Thing Missing Was You
7. Say Hey (I Love You)
8. Gloria (feat. Cherine Anderson)
9. Love Don’t Wait
10. The Thing That Helps Me Get Through
11. Headphones
12. The Sound Of Sunshine Going Down
13. The Sound Of Sunshine (feat. Lorenzo Jovanotti)
14. The Sound Of Sunshine (feat. Dan Macaco)
