When considering internationally successful Irish rock bands, U2 and Thin Lizzy come to mind. Some bands, however, find success closer to their roots. For over 15 years, The Frames have amassed a cult following and produced a number of platinum-selling albums in their native country. Sales and popularity, however, haven't always been as easy stateside. In Burn The Maps, their debut from the highly respected independent label Anti, The Frames have set their sights on winning over a new audience.
Starting with a hushed minimal guitar line, the opening, "Happy," doesn't fully develop until its uplifting conclusion layered with piano and strings. Like a number of other tracks on this album, "Happy" employs a long crescendo which waits to climax until its closing seconds. Though engaging at first, repeated listening exposes the obvious structure of songs like "Dream Awake."
Structural repetition, while revealing the boring predictability of the album, also creates two radio-ready singles. In a perfect world, we would hear the aggressive snare-driven cries of "Finally" on our alarm clock radios instead of shrink-wrapped Top 40. The shoe-gazer phenomenon, where self-absorbed guitarists compensate for musical ability with frequent pedal effects, opens "Fake" in a revivalist style, then develops into a model pop song with an emo power chorus to die for.
The experimental yin to the album's pop-sensible yang lies in its final four songs. The bossa nova bass guitar of "Ship Caught In The Bay" gives way to a minute and a half electronic drum glitch fest of a gratuitous ending. The Frames would benefit by adding electronic percussion to the body of a song, not to a meaningless interlude. The seven-minute epic, "Keepsake," doesn't live up to its title.
While the album's acoustic numbers are hardly experimental, "Suffer In Silence" and "Locusts" are out of place in comparison to preceding songs. Both tracks emphasize lyrics more than other songs on Burn the Maps. Singer Glen Hansard confirms the take-it-or-leave-it nature of this album with the lines from the album's final song: "I'm moving off/I'm packing up/I'm willing to be wrong."
This album is neither astoundingly revolutionary nor painfully flawed. The Frames have made an album that is ultimately hit-or-miss and won't replicate the acclaim of their successful Irish counterparts. If anything, the highs reached in Burn the Maps give listeners hope for The Frames' future, but not their present.
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