Time and time again, the mainstream sees a countless number of artists who take the world by storm with their stellar debuts, only to follow with a disappointing sophomore release. We saw it with James Blunt and Bowling for Soup, and we’ll most likely be seeing it with Katy Perry.
So when The Fray announced the release of its second album, the big question was: sophomore slump or comeback of the year?
The answer is most certainly the latter.
The Fray made an incredible entrance to the music world in 2005 with the release of its chart topping debut ‘How to Save a Life.’ The album saw four top 10 singles, and transformed the band from a coffee shop quartet to an arena spectacle.
Now, the band’s second album, which is simply titled ‘The Fray,’ proves to be just as good if not better than its first release.’ The 10-track CD starts off with ‘Syndicate,’ a perfect introduction to the bands newer sound, and perhaps one of the best songs on the album.
One track that most fans are pretty familiar with is the first single off the album, ‘You Found Me.’ The song was first heard by the public back in November, when it was used for a promo for the new season of ABC’s ‘Lost.’ Upon hearing the minute and a half snippet, fans were already praising the song as arguably one of the band’s best. Musically a great pick for the album’s first single, ‘You Found Me’ lyrically tells a touching tale of why bad things happen to good people, and where God is when he is needed the most.
With the multiple tragedies singer Issac Slade has dealt with over the last few years, he sings with passion, ‘Where were you, when everything was falling apart? When all my days were spent by a telephone, you never came.’ Slade talked about this imaginary argument in an interview, explaining, ‘I kept getting these phone calls from home, tragedy after tragedyif there is some kind of person in charge of this planet-are they sleeping? Smoking?…I just imagined running into God standing on a street corner like Bruce Springsteen, smoking a cigarette, and I’d have it out with him. ‘
Another noteworthy track is ‘Where the Story Ends.’ Reminiscent to the band’s 2005 single, ‘Over My Head,’ the fast paced track could be an easy pick for the next single. The album also contains several of the Fray’s trademark piano ballads, like the hair raising ‘Enough for Now.’
The album closes with its emotional tenth track, ‘Happiness,’ an acoustic driven ballad that is sure to raise the hairs on all listeners arms.
The Fray continue on its golden streak with the band’s eponymous second album. With not a single track worth skipping, The Fray are showing the music world that the group is’ not going anywhere any time soon.
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