Editorial Reviews
Music Review:
Music Review
Mozart: String Quartets, KV80 & KV155; Divertimenti, KV136-138
Marc Lavoine - Live [Import] [Live]
Six Figure Dropout [Explicit Lyrics]
Mozart: Piano Music for Four Hands
Amazon.com
On their first studio album in nearly four years, the Frames have opted for a fuller, more adventurous sound than on 2001’s Steve Albini-produced For the Birds, although this placid, smoky-bar ambiance owes more to 'Birds than to 1999’s Dance The Devil. From the opening acoustic strums and lingering background vocals of "Happy" through "Locusts" and its Donovan-does-"Atlantis" vibe, this record teeters on the dark side, rescued by the stirring John Cale inspired string arrangements of violinist Colm Mac Con Iomaire. Most of the Dublin based foursome’s dozen tracks have muted beginnings that swell to intoxicating volumes, as is the band’s trademark, with Glen Hansard’s uninhibited vocals uniformly at ease with the turbulent "Underglass" and the dreamy, windblown "Ship Caught in the Bay" (seemingly written with Astrud Gilberto in mind). It’s an unpredictably bipolar record with plenty of mood swings and emotional shifts that will ultimately leave listeners with feelings of euphoria. --Scott Holter
Album Description
Ireland's biggest band (even rivaling U2) has built an impressive North American fan base from scratch. They put on an incredibly dynamic show and their constant touring, both on their own and with Damien Rice, Calexico, and The New Pornographers, has paid off to the point where they sell out large clubs in all the major cities. This is their fifth studio album and first for Anti. It's also their most cohesive. The band have reconciled their various personalities into one volatile organism, synthesizing gorgeous melancholy with full-blown anger. "The Frames sing about love and death and revelation. They pick folky ballads full of quiet longing; they seethe and mourn; they build crescendos and taper down to fiddle tunes and build again, making hearts surge every time"--NY Times.