David Franklin: Passings
David Franklin

The past few years have been particularly tumultuous ones for David Franklin. In addition to contending with the pandemic and all its complications, the acoustic guitarist saw both parents pass away, his children leave home, and weathered a storm of other life-changing experiences. Rather than render such turbulence into sound, Franklin opted to craft an antidote to it in this uplifting collection of instrumentals. His tenth album—his first, titled simply David Franklin, appeared in 1988—is largely a solo affair, but he's not entirely alone. Guitarist Alex Franklin (aka Owl Licks) appears with his dad on two of the fifteen songs, and the great fretless bassist Michael Manring appears on nine. Expanding on the guitar-centric sound world, David also plays piano on five songs and a sweetly chiming music box on one.

That he would opt for a healing tone for the project makes sense. When not writing and playing music, Franklin's a licensed Oakland, California-based psychotherapist sensitive to music's ability to create connections with others and foster self-awareness. He's played guitar since picking it up as an eleven-year-old boy in New Jersey, and the many years spent refining his technique are put to good use on Passings. His picking throughout is terrific and a constant source of pleasure; as the solo piano settings “Laughing in Whispers” and “When Shadows Were Analog” show, he's no slouch behind the keyboard either.

With respect to mood, Passings is anything but one-dimensional. Whereas “We All Become Ancestors” and “Ghost Tree” are stately and majestic, “Carousel,” its title evoking Joni's “The Circle Game,” and “Changes” exude hope for the future in equal measure. An animated, multi-layered tapestry, “The Meeting Tree” proves spellbinding in pooling the talents of two Franklins and Manring into a rousing folk setting one imagines Pat Metheny would appreciate. Father and son partner also on “Another Perspective,” the dynamic picking throwdown flattering to the abilities of both. Expressions such as “I'll Never Hear My Father's Stories Again” and “Sweet Dreams and Travel Well” (the latter written for his mother on the day of her death) are suitably heartfelt and affecting in their sincerity.

September 2022