The Frames - The Coast (again)

A little while ago we reported that Stylus magazine gave the Coast a 'D' grade prompting outrage from fellow bloggers. Well now Pitchfork have reviewed the album and kind of agreed with Stylus giving it 5.2/10 (the .2 is really worth it isn't it?).


They surmise that The Frames are trying to put their huge live sound onto an album, the way U2 and Coldplay do, but failing, and ending up sounding formulaic,

"If that whole process seems underwhelmingly by-the-numbers, you'd be right...there's very little to The Cost that attempts to surprise. And while there's nothing wrong with a predictable approach when deployed with expertise, it's disappointing from a band like the Frames, whose brash energy is best depicted by the raw, immediate Set List...

too often, Colm Mac Con Iomaire's violin is the only element preventing the Frames from sinking to the status of just another post-Radiohead purveyor of mass-audience melancholic anthem ballads."

Still Pitchfork gave Burn The Maps 4.2/10

The Frames - The Coast

The Frames are one of my favourite bands. "For The Birds" is without a doubt one of my desert island discs. It's with dissapointment then that I read Stylus Magazine's review of The Coast, their latest album.

In giving it a "D-" they report

"The Cost tries to recapture the stately slow burn of For the Birds, but ultimately suffers the same fate of the poppin’ fresh dough that was Leaders of the Free World, Elbow’s fall from grace. Ironic that these two groups were once posited as rougher, more masculine alternatives to Travis. Fran and ’em never sounded this soggy, and The Cost is basically Wonder Bread dragged all the way across the pond. Talk about the last laugh of the laughter."

I can't comment, I haven't heard any of the album yet. Hopefully Stylus got it wrong.


Here's a review of their gig in December 2005.

and of a Glen Hansard solo gig I was at.