Released in 1995, and reissued here for its 15th anniversary in 2010,
Frankie Welfare Boy Age Five is the first full-length from
Braid. Influenced by bands like
Cap’n Jazz,
Jawbox, and Car Vs. Driver, but adding their own aggression to the music, the album shows the lines that can be drawn between the early days of emo and hardcore. Moody songs jerk back and forth from jangly melody to raw-throated angst, laying down the blueprint for what would become modern emo-core. As a debut, the album shows
Braid at their most raw and unrefined, giving the emotion conveyed on the album a sincerity that’s difficult to manufacture. The downside is that the album also shows the band at their most unfocused, meandering through 26 tracks (one for each letter of the alphabet) separated by radio static mixed with snippets of some of their musical contemporaries. While this is an album that is certainly essential for
Braid fans, it may be too scattered to draw in the uninitiated. However, as a relic from the early days of a genre, it’s a listening experience that’s difficult to pass up for anyone looking to delve into the early days of midwestern emo. ~ Gregory Heaney