Frank Smith is a band, not a man is the quote that starts off the band's website. Frank Smith is the brainchild of Aaron Sinclair and is the first band signed to Juliana Hatfield's Ye Old Records. The songs on this disc are predominately alt-country and a point of comparison would be Ryan Adams.

The songs are all driven by Sinclair's strong voice and very tight backing vocal harmonies. The musical arrangements are complex and give a fitting ambiance to Sinclair's voice. In addition to the typical instruments, I can hear a slide guitar, banjo, pedal steel and harmonica throughout a number of songs. I haven't quite figured out the band's lyrics (the evils of listening to a pre-release) but I did catch the murder ballad lyrics on the song Lovesick Cynics.

Frank Smith is backing Juliana Hatfield on the upcoming EP "sittin' in a tree..." which is due to be released on May 29th. You can click on the EP cover to go to Juliana's site and pre-order.

Heavy Handed Peace and Love will be released May 29th on Ye Olde Records.

Links:
Frank Smith's MySpace page (link)