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What a great feeling it is to stumble upon a band that is so compelling, one
whose music just jumps out of your CD player and into your ears like it was
meant to be heard. The Fray is one of those bands. Formed in 2002, the Fray
began winning awards in their hometown of Denver almost as soon as they started
performing, and for good reason. Lead vocalist Isaac Slade has one of those
distinctive voices (think David Gray meets Ryan Adams meets Chris Martin), and
genre-wise the band rides the AAA bus but with songs so catchy, that the bus
should be making crossover stops on the pop and alternative charts as well.
“She Is” kicks this set off and sets the tone for the whole record with an
aggressive melodic onslaught driven equally by guitar and piano. “Over My Head”
and the title track are more of the same, and it’s all good. No really, it’s
better than good. “Fall Away” is the first slow to mid-tempo track and is
musically like a cross between Train and Ben Folds. “Look After You” is akin to
“Fall” and if there is one thing to nitpick here it’s that a lot of the songs
sound similar – though that’s never really a problem when the material is this
strong. “Vienna” is a piano ballad complete with falsetto in the chorus ala
Coldplay. And “Little House” uses guitars a little more liberally to create more
of an edgy rock flavor, and it’s done masterfully.
The Fray is all about unpretentious rock music, but with the kind of alternative
flavor that made bands from the Aware Records camp famous over the past ten
years. It’s easy to toot the horn of a baby band that is selling out venues just
about everywhere they play as the Fray is, but if you get to check out How to
Save a Life, you can’t help but toot horns and anything else that’s put in front
of you. This is a 2005 release that is going to wind up on a lot of “Best Of”
lists in 2006.
~Mike Farley
mfarley@bullz-eye.com
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