The Fray releases third album full of emotional, reflective tracks
They reel you in with a slow kick drum and somber, growing run on the ivories.
It starts out with a level lead, drawing in with a familiar and famed voice, growing to a chorus that shuffles each song into one of two categories: gut-wrenching, contemplative crier or hopeful ballad fit for the radio.
The Fray is back — three years after its last, self-titled album — with an emotional, provocative and reflective collection of tracks that mirror the Colorado band's tried, true and established chart-topping sound.
"Scars & Stories" is, as an album, just as wonderful as its name. It's simple, understated and cool — it doesn't try and fight the third-disc pitfall with a revamped image and barely recognizable but progressive style. It's true to itself and tells the band's stories, complete with all of the earned scars along the way.
"The third album is the extroverted type. It's the free spirit, wanderer type," guitarist Joe King said in a December VEVO interview. "It's the little kid that I probably was. It's just curious, and there's a lot of wonder in it."
The "Scars & Stories" track list takes listeners on a trip through Europe. From "Munich" to "Rainy Zurich," each song and emotion-packed lyric was inspired by an impromptu, prerecording trip. The band took a good chunk of the album's budget and hopped a plane, vocalist Isaac Slade said in the VEVO interview.
"Heartbeat," the album's first single, hit the radio in October and has since grown into a station staple — a real, honest and charged favorite. And it has a story that reaches far beyond the Malibu beach and weekend bonfire showcased in the single's music video.
While visiting the genocide museum in Rwanda, Slade stood atop a 250,000-person grave site, staring at a fire burning in the center of the valley, the singer said in the VEVO interview.
The opening track has since been guised as a love song grappling with the give-and-take of a relationship, the little imperfections and end-all, be-all of love, repeating: "If you love someone, you love them all the same." But, with backstory in mind, it's a powerful piece. It's a worldwide heartbeat.
"The Fighter" follows up the first single, building the album's expectations and fulfilling every hope for The Fray we all know and love. It's Isaac Slade and his infectious voice, complete with occasional falsetto and far-reaching acoustics.
The song tells the tale of the lover and the fighter, wrapping back up to the chorus of: "Loneliness has always been with me / Maybe we were meant to be on our own / But I gotta try or it will destroy me / 'Cause, baby, we don't have to be all alone."
It wins us over in its honesty and real emotion. Whether it is in his voice, gaze or bald head, Slade has a certain brand of genuineness that's set apart The Fray as a top act.
And then there's a taste of the provocative — never something that's been associated with the "Over My Head" musicians. "Turn Me On" was written about a YouTube video of a regal — and by all accounts wholesome — belly dancer and the movements of the woman's body, according to King in the band's live Walmart Soundcheck.
"Run for Your Life" harkens back to the tracks that made The Fray's career. It's deep, and as the chorus builds, listeners are struck somewhere between tears and a mile-wide hopeful smile. It's the "How to Save a Life" effect — beautiful in its delivery but heartwrenching in its conception.
"Scars & Stories" dances through its twelve tracks with an effortless flow. There's no need for the skip button, with each song painting its own picture — each story overtakes each beat and pieces together the grander work.
And it all — on the original version of the album — comes to a close with "Be Still," a gorgeous closer that borders on Christian hymn in its simple words and piano-backed beauty, with a faint hint of strings.
The iTunes deluxe edition tacks on an additional five covers — well worth the extra $3 — including Yeah Yeah Yeahs' "Maps" and Bruce Springsteen's "Streets of Philadelphia." And although it's not the pinnacle of Fray talent, The Fugees' "Ready or Not" earns a little laugh with Slade's stellar raps.