The Frames, The Cost (EMI)

 |   |  <1 min read

The Frames: The Cost
The Frames, The Cost (EMI)

As regular readers of this column will know (I've always wanted to say that!), the lead singer of this Irish band Glen Hansard appeared in Elsewhere last year with a low-key but compelling album The Swell Season (with Czech singer/pianist Marketa Irglova).

But, to this one: Hansard excels in heart-aching angst and dramatic vocal swoops, and the band (which can come on like mid-period Radiohead) propel him into great soaring flights. This is their sixth album and it can be loudly thrilling in an Arcade Fire/Radiohead kind of way.

They also revisit a couple of songs from that Hansard solo outing (the glorious Falling Slowly, the dense When Your Mind's Made Up) and only the slightly obvious Sad Song pulls this one back a notch.

Although that said, even that track is grower much like one of REM's similarly effortless melodies. I have no idea why Hansard says this is their Gordon Lightfoot/Elton John/early 70s folk album. I was there in the 70s and it sounds nothing like that. It's better.

Share It

Your Comments

post a comment

More from this section   Music at Elsewhere articles index

IN BRIEF: A quick overview of some recent international releases

IN BRIEF: A quick overview of some recent international releases

With so many CDs commanding and demanding attention Elsewhere will run this occasional column which scoops up releases by international artists, in much the same way as our SHORT CUTS column... > Read more

Procol Harum: The Best of, Then and Now (Salvo)

Procol Harum: The Best of, Then and Now (Salvo)

It is hard to believe -- and somewhat sad -- that the authorship of Whiter Shade of Pale, this group's defining moment (and which also captured the dreamy, surreal English Summer of Love in '67),... > Read more

Elsewhere at Elsewhere

ERIKA DARKSSON INTERVIEWED (2018): What lies beneath

ERIKA DARKSSON INTERVIEWED (2018): What lies beneath

Warning: The following article contains references to violence, sex and obscene language. Reader discretion is advised. When I look back, I think I was always different from other... > Read more

BERNIE GRIFFEN INTERVIEWED (2014): Tales of a survivor

BERNIE GRIFFEN INTERVIEWED (2014): Tales of a survivor

Bernie Griffen lets out a wheezing laugh when I ask him if he's in decent health these days. He's 63, has lived hard and by his own admission not spared himself sometimes through drugs,... > Read more