THE COST - THE FRAMES
Opener “Song for Someone” is the pacesetter for an album filled with slow and gentle melodies that escalate into anthemic, string-filled choruses. This structure, which has lately yielded commercial success for groups like Snow Patrol, works here mainly due to the consistency of frontman Glen Hansard’s songwriting and powerfully affecting voice. The problem is that, although there are a number of quality songs — such as the explosive “People Get Ready” and the emotionally wrenching “True” — the set as a whole lacks variety and rarely shifts tempo. The folksy “Sad Songs” and the guitar-riddled “Mind’s Made Up” offer a glimpse at the different directions the Frames are capable of going, yet it’s as if the band is set on practicing restraint. Still, even without that added intensity, softer songs such as “Bad Bone” are elegant in their own right. Billboard
