Search - Frames :: Burn the Maps

Builds with intensity

David Roman | North Babylon, NY United States | 08/27/2007

(4 out of 5 stars)

"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"."

From the violently quiet to the obviously sublime

Geoffrey M. Dominy | 08/31/2006

(5 out of 5 stars)

"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.

"

They just keep doing it...

Geoffrey M. Dominy | 11/05/2006

(5 out of 5 stars)

"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."