I haven't done a moving music post in a while so after having listened to The Fray a lot lately, I decided to write about them. Instead of writing about my favorite song of theirs (I do have a favorite), I would rather write about all of their music in general.
I think what makes The Fray great is that they write such high quality music, but don't seem to be prideful about it. Some musicians are good at coming up with catchy music and they know it. The music of The Fray is definitely catchy, but they don't seem to play that card just to get their songs on the radio. I respect that about the band.
Musically
Isaac Slade, the band's lead singer, has a voice that in my opinion not only sounds good on their more hardcore songs (like parts of "Little House"), but also in acoustic songs (like "Happiness") as well as in cover songs (such as "Eleanor Rigby" and "Heartless".)
The guitar and piano melodies that sound wonderful on their own, let alone together run throughout many of the songs on both of their albums, "How to Save a Life" and "The Fray", along with vocal melodies and harmonies tactfully crafted together. Basically, I just like this band a lot. They have dramatic, beautiful and catchy music that could fit almost any situation or mood.
Lyrically
The band has a way of writing lyrics that tell truth in a way that a lot of other bands don't. Even though sometimes truth is hard to hear, the band has a way of mixing it with a song in a way that makes it a little more appealing to embrace. (Of course if you've ever decided to embrace a hard truth you find that (somehow) embracing even painful truth feels much better than running from it.) In their lyric writing, I don't think they're afraid of stating their fears and this characteristic generally makes for pretty good lyrics. When it comes down to it, I think there is a lot of wisdom to be found in the band's lyrics and I appreciate this a lot. For example, here's some of the lyrics of their song "Happiness":
I think what makes The Fray great is that they write such high quality music, but don't seem to be prideful about it. Some musicians are good at coming up with catchy music and they know it. The music of The Fray is definitely catchy, but they don't seem to play that card just to get their songs on the radio. I respect that about the band.
Musically
Isaac Slade, the band's lead singer, has a voice that in my opinion not only sounds good on their more hardcore songs (like parts of "Little House"), but also in acoustic songs (like "Happiness") as well as in cover songs (such as "Eleanor Rigby" and "Heartless".)
The guitar and piano melodies that sound wonderful on their own, let alone together run throughout many of the songs on both of their albums, "How to Save a Life" and "The Fray", along with vocal melodies and harmonies tactfully crafted together. Basically, I just like this band a lot. They have dramatic, beautiful and catchy music that could fit almost any situation or mood.
Lyrically
The band has a way of writing lyrics that tell truth in a way that a lot of other bands don't. Even though sometimes truth is hard to hear, the band has a way of mixing it with a song in a way that makes it a little more appealing to embrace. (Of course if you've ever decided to embrace a hard truth you find that (somehow) embracing even painful truth feels much better than running from it.) In their lyric writing, I don't think they're afraid of stating their fears and this characteristic generally makes for pretty good lyrics. When it comes down to it, I think there is a lot of wisdom to be found in the band's lyrics and I appreciate this a lot. For example, here's some of the lyrics of their song "Happiness":
Happiness feels a lot like sorrow
Let it be, you can’t make it come or go
But you are gone- not for good but for now
Gone for now feels a lot like gone for good
Basically
Something that I think the band does very well is integrate the message of the lyrics with the musicality of a song. For example, when I hear the beginning of "Never Say Never" I feel like the message that the lyrics bring is already there before a word is sung. The dynamics of the music of The Fray match the lyrics of their songs extraordinarily well. In my opinion, this the sign of a very talented group of artists.