Based in Bologna, Italy, Franklin Delano are led by singer, guitarist and songwriter Paolo Iocca and singer/guitarist Marcella Riccardi. Primarily influenced by the recent post-folk scene raised from the ashes of Red Red Meat, they released a demo on Zahr Records: All My Senses Are Senseless Today (2004) was a mixture of slow pace folk-rock songs, often arranged with a dark Slint-style attitude, that created some excitement among Italian press. Perishable records distributed the record through their online shop. By that same year the core of the group comprised the trio of Iocca, Riccardi and Vittoria Burattini on drums. Franklin Delanos second effort, Like A Smoking Gun In Front Of Me (2005), marked a slight change in the groups sound. While remaining steeped in the dark slow cored style of their previous album, the songs took influencial benefits from a series of new musical inputs, from psychedelia to Alt-country. Produced at Clava Studios in Chicago by Brian Deck (former Red Red Meat and Califone member and producer for Modest Mouse, Ugly Casanova, Iron&Wine), the album includes musical contributions by Califone members Ben Massarella, Tim Rutili, and Jim Becker. Like A Smoking Gun saw the band moving on Madcap Collective (Italy) and File 13 Records (Chicago, IL). It was promoted and distributed in the United States and garnered plaudits from the local music press. Most italian critics judged it to be among the year best records. Shortly after the release, Franklin Delano embarked on their first U.S. tour that helped them win fans and also spread the name all over the United States. Soon after, the group suffered an internal shake-up with Burattini replaced by Lucio Sagone at drums, and Marcello Petruzzi at bass. At the end of 2005 the line-up included Vittorio Demarin at violin, piano, organ and Michele Sarti at percussions and glockenspiel. In 2006 the band signed with Italys Ghost Records, flew to Chicago where they recorded their third album, Come Home with Brian Deck, between Engine and Soma music studios, and toured the U.S. a second time. The album, Come Home, has been released in October. The band has been on tour since then, with a freshly new line-up, including the comeback of Vittoria, and new entry Nicola Manzan at violin and electronics, to join Paolo, Marcella and Marcello. At the end of 2007 the project cease its activity. Paolo and Marcella have just started a new project joining two midwestern multi-instrumentalists, Davy DelaFuente and Oren Wagner. Read more on Last.fm. User-contributed text is available under the Creative Commons By-SA License; additional terms may apply.