The Fray: The Fray

In the fall of 2005 The Fray was immediately put on the map by the release of their first full length album, How to Save a Life. This album showcased the bands extraordinary talent, generated a hand-full of hits (including “Over My Head” and “How to Save a Life”) and is just overall a fantastic piece of work. With influences from bands like U2 and Keane, The Fray’s style is a type of symphonic sound with a loud and visible rocking piano leading the charge. Seriously, How to Save a Life is one of the best albums I have ever heard, period. I would recommend this album to ANYONE – and don’t hesitate to listen to it, because I did for about 3 years.

When I first heard The Fray my only thought was, “yeah they’re pretty good”. After awhile I began to be sick of hearing those songs being overplayed on the radio, and never decided to look into them. 3 years later I heard the song “How to Save a Life” on a television show and it really hit me, hard. The song is so powerful in both music and lyrics and having it as soundtrack to this show really made me realize how good it was. So I went and got the whole album and decided to give it a try – and I was absolutely blown away! The album had a kind of calming ambiance about it, while still being good alternative rock music. Immediately I fell in love with The Fray, so when I heard that their 2nd album would be released in early February, I couldn’t wait.

Sophomore year began for The Fray by releasing the single “You Found Me” about two months before the actual release date of the entire album, The Fray. “You Found Me” was a wise choice to be the single, and is definitely one of the best songs on the album. It begins with just the piano and vocals and slowly becomes a fantastic song about being lost and relying on someone to find you. Then, in early February the entire album entitled The Fray was released. First off – Am I impressed? Yes, definitely. This album features all of the strengths of The Fray - from the consistent presence of the piano, to the powerful heart-renching lyrics, to the very ambiance of sound they create. Is it as good as How to Save a Life? I would have to say no, unfortunately not, but it come very VERY close. The Fray is still a very impressive piece of musical art that I know will be forever appreciated, by fans like myself and music appreciators everywhere.

Like its younger brother How to Save a Life, The Fray begins with a blast. Track 1, titled “Syndicate” starts the album with a hard-rocking tune and booming piano, and is one of the best songs on the album. The Fray attempts to flow but it comes off a little choppy. The atmosphere of the album seems to go up and down between the flow of each song. Throughout the album there was only one song that I could have done without, which was "Ungodly Hour". Yet, there are multiple songs that really define the album as a whole, and really showcase The Fray's extraordinary talent. Songs like "Syndicate", "You Found Me", "Say When", "Happiness", and my personal favorite "Enough For Now" really pull the album together and keep other tracks (which are still good,) going. The song "Enough For Now" really grabbed me right from the first listen of the album. It has a symphonic atmosphere about it, that with the powerful lead vocals, really just pulls it all together into a great song.

One thing about The Fray that I absolutely love and admire is how they can perfectly start and end an album. Like How To Save a Life, this album makes a grand entrance, and equally makes an extraordinary, yet humble exit. "Happiness", the last song on the album starts very quiet with just the Acoustic guitar, and slowly evolves into a grand choir all singing the lyrics "She'll be home". It's very endearing - they could not have picked a better song to end the album with.

Sometimes when I write these (like with Cold War Kids review) I feel as though I am only saying that a band’s first album is worth listening to. This is NOT the case - Just because I say that one piece of music is better than the other doesn't mean it's not worth listening to. The Fray is a fantastic album and I would recommend it to all music lovers! But when asked which of the two albums released by The Fray are better, I would say How to Save a Life. They are both incredible pieces of music, and The Fray is one band that I would please ask that you (yes you!) look into. When it comes to rating, I would give The Fray 4 out of 5 stars –