Dash Hammerstein – “Franklin”
Dash Hammerstein – Franklin
A Genre-Bending Reinvention Through Analog Soul and Pop Precision
With Franklin, Brooklyn-based polymath Dash Hammerstein delivers an album that sounds both lovingly familiar and thrillingly uncharted. Out April 4, 2025, the record is a self-contained world: written, arranged, recorded, and produced entirely by Hammerstein himself—save for brief but striking cameos by Christian Li (Unknown Mortal Orchestra) on synths and Grace Hammerstein on vocals. What results is a genre the artist wryly dubs “White Album Brat”—a nod to his foundational love for The Beatles and The Kinks, refracted through a contemporary pop prism of Charli XCX and Billie Eilish.
From the jump, lead track Sick makes it clear that Hammerstein isn’t interested in retreading the past. Aggressive, synth-heavy, and beat-forward, it showcases an artist liberated from traditional instrumentation. Guitars take a backseat here—replaced with analog drum machines, arpeggiated synths, and modular randomness reshaped into structure. Tracks like Overcorrection and Undertaker dig deeper into this dichotomy, welding clever, Kinksy lyrical sensibility to a shimmering, electronic pop chassis.
Inspired in part by the unreleased Book of Prince documentary, Hammerstein found fresh creative fire in retro-tech like the LinnDrum and Prophet 6. His production setup—split between a home studio and a Tribeca workspace—embraced analog imperfection, yielding a sound that hums with warmth and unpredictability. Generative modular gear shaped the album’s DNA, creating spontaneous patterns that were molded into deliberate, hook-laden songs.
Thematically, Franklin dances between existential reflection and euphoric release. It’s a record that feels deeply human, even as its textures skew electronic. Hammerstein’s commitment to redefining his sound—by breaking down and rebuilding from the ground up—is palpable.
At once nostalgic and futuristic, personal and experimental, Franklin is more than just Dash Hammerstein’s best album yet—it’s a bold blueprint for how reinvention can feel both fearless and fun.