As a reviewer I’m always praying that the next album I listen to is going to be great; that an act is going to improve on what’s gone before. But I’m at the stage now with Irish band the Frames that I’m almost hoping that a new album will be a disaster, and for once I can demolish it… Some fuckin’ hope! Very few bands I know can boast such consistent quality while adhering faithfully to their distinctive sound. Sure, there have been minor blemishes; mostly production related; but the song writing and performances shine like a blazing desert sun, with the capacity to overwhelm; to involve like no other rock band. THE COST is the band’s latest album and is not released in the UK until 2007, although a little bird told me you can buy it on import from Ireland (go to the band’s website www.theframes.ie).

Following hot on the heels of Glen Hansard’s brilliant and moving solo album THE SWELL SEASON (co-written, co-performed by Marketa Irglova)it is something of a surprise to find two of the songs have migrated to the new Frames album. But it’s a seamless and trouble-free transposition; the two songs fit well into the album’s highly emotive context. THE COST opens with one of its highlights, Song For Someone, which starts at deathly pace before chorus voice and instruments take a hike skywards before sinking back. Hansard has never sounded better or more expressive as his vocal gymnastics dominate the song. Falling Slowly is taken from the solo album and stays pretty faithful to it. Added drum, guitar and fiddle passages make it rockier but it retains its beauty and drama. People Get Ready is an anthem for our troubled times; “People get ready/cause we’re breaking down the stand/rebuild what’s got unsteady… We have all the time in the world/to get it right/ we have all the love in the world/to set allight…” With its rhythmic power and monster melody, this is the single that radio would play the world over. Rise repeats the Frames trick of starting quite innocently before spinning wildly off the roulette wheel. Fabulous! When The Mind’s Made Up is the second great song taken from the solo album. It is so powerful and moving that it could be on every Frames record and no-one would complain. The second half of the album takes on a more contemplative and downbeat ambience starting with the melancholy of Sad Songs (“…and the price of fame/is that they love you when you’re gone…”), and the Tarrantino-esque title track The Cost with its soaring, distinctive guitar passages.

THE COST offers a diversity of pace while Hansard/Frames superior lyricism and melody remain firmly in place. In part it’s an epic album, in part deeply contemplative, while the sum of its parts add up to potentially one of the band’s biggest selling albums. Frames songs are created for the live arena and I look forward to seeing them performed at London University on the 30th November, in one of the band’s increasingly rare UK appearances (book now to avoid disappointment and witness one of the world’s truly great live bands).

4.5/5