Franklin's Mint - Gold

7.5 - USA - 2005

A rather bizarre spin-off from the Sunburned Hand Of The Man collective. Bizarre in that the free-wheeling avant-garde jams of the Boston-based psychlords have been reconfigured into fairly straight alt-country songs (though leaning more to the alternative side of alt-country). It sounds a bit like the Brian Jonestown Massacre jamming the Anomoanon. The songs themselves more or less hold up -- opener "Hold This Bag For Me" takes a tale of drug smuggling and turns into a down-home jam between friends. I don't know who the female singer is on "Carousel Baby" and "One, Two, Many", but she's fantastic. In places the emphasis on drinking and smoking can grate a little as if it's trying a bit too hard to be "rock 'n roll", but a solid record nonetheless, and a welcome diversion from the sometimes challenging Sunburners.