Francine

Forty on a Fall Day (Q Division)

Francine's debut album Forty on a Fall Day is sadly just another indie album, falling into the typical pattern of pop-melody followed by loud verse-chorus-verse. But at least it's a good indie album. Guitarist/lead singer Clayton Scoble, once an Aimee Mann backup, fills the sarcastic but softly melodic lead singer role quite pleasantly. In "Jet to Norway," one of the album's best tracks, Scoble manages to induce head-bopping, with a silly tune complemented by Albert Gualtieri's peppy guitar chords and Sean Connelly's nearly silent bass.

Unfortunately, the creative lyrics are masked by the band's unwillingness to relax and let their instruments fit the lyrics. This makes many of the songs blend together. "Want Ad King" may wax philosophic ("If life was Equus I'd be Burton/Philosophically uncertain/Not the screw-up kid with the religious mom") but the lead guitar sounds exactly the same as on "East Hampton," the next track. As the sequence of 16 songs progresses, some of the stronger tunes, such as the catchy "So Eureka," end up being overlooked.

While the album isn't a breakout masterpiece, Francine is a band that knows what its listeners want-quirky background songs that sound happy but have morbid depressing lyrics. Forty on a Fall Day would be a better album if it were shorter and more inventive, but count Francine as one more contribution to the seemingly endless supply of indie-pop.

B

-Nikki Usher