The Frames - Burn the Maps

 Builds with intensity
This is probably The Frames darkest album. It definitely sets unsettling mood throughout. But it also has some of their most rocking tunes that you just get swept up by. "Finally" the second track on the CD is possibly the most captivating openings to a rock song ever. It's so bitter in tone and yet so fun to sing along to! A lot of songs on this album also fall into their signature format "opening soft and whispy, building, adding layers of violin, rocking the hell out, bombast intensity, and suddenly cutting back to the melodic quiet of the opening..."
And this album adds a bit of electronic bits and beeps into the mix for some interesting affect. Sort of in a Radiohead vibe...but with their own distinct vibe. There's some soundscape experimenting ala Sonic Youth and Yo La Tengo on "A Caution to the Birds".
I think "Burn the Maps" has some of the The Frames best stand alone songs...even if it doesn't tie together as a complete album as well as "For the Birds".
My personal favorites are "Dream Awake" (pretty much a definitive Frames song), "Sideways Down" (channeling a bit of the Pixies), Fake (should have been their big pop single), Keepsake (another perfect example of what the Frames do best!). The last song, "Locusts" is almost a foreshadowing to Glen Hansards solo work on "Once" and "The Swell Season". August 27, 2007

 Unbelievable
Honestly, I could write endlessly about how incredible this band is both on cd and live in concert but I really wouldn't be saying anything different from all the other reviewers. I guess the greatest compliment I can give Glen and the rest of the band is that on Friday, I am flying from Vancouver, Canada to London for four days and my sole reason for going is to attend The Frames show on February 20, 2007. If you get the chance to see this amazing band live, you should grab it. They are the #1 live band. February 13, 2007

 They just keep doing it...
Mix the subtle intelligence of radiohead with damien rice's beauty, and of course, chuck in a few violin solos, and you get the Frames, who, with burn the maps, have made one of the finest albums to come out of Ireland in quite a while.

Burn the Maps is one huge, draining journey that leaves you with songs like the haunting Locusts, the epic finally, and sublime opener happy, this album demands you turn down the lights, turn the volume up, and listen hard. November 5, 2006

 From the violently quiet to the obviously sublime
Perhaps Burn the Maps defines the frames perfectly, because it's just so unpredictable. the tracks range from the instantly brilliant fake, the ex-boyfriend style single; to the dark, melodic opener happy.

there's so many gems here, the almost eight minute epic keepsake, which climaxes with hansard moaning 'hunting me down like an insect', and underglass, with hansard again testing himself, bellowing 'i cannot accept your dsapointment man'.

however, one track shines absolutely brillantly, finally is the outstanding one, with jagged guitars and the downbeat lyrics of more despair and the treachery of a break up. absolutely magnificent.
August 31, 2006

 pure perfection
this is one of the most beautiful albums ever recorded. the dynamic sincerity moves stones. June 1, 2006

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