Tuesday Listening - The Fray

If you are a regular reader of this blog, then you know that I'm a sucker for music that is heartfelt, melancholic, and driven by emotion more than anything.  There's so much manufactured and over-produced music out today that, although these features used to be a given in music, they have become just that- a feature.  Having a song driven by the emotion behind it is not necessarily a given.  There are also few musicians who do it well without sounding overly cheesy and fake.

One band who's sound is based in emotionally fraught energy (and does it well) is The Fray.  Similar to Mikel Jollett's lead vocals with Airborne Toxic Event, The Fray has a front man (Isaac Slade) who has the ability to take you there.  While he's not particularly known or filled with superstar qualities, he has the ability to bring the listener into the moment and make listeners feel as though they are experiencing every bit of anguish and elation as he's experiencing it, every time you hear one of their songs.  Being able to bring that kind of consistent energy to each song is no small feat.

For a crash course in this style, try listening to The Fray's "You Found Me":


The Fray has a new album coming out in February, and have released their first single, "Heartbeat".  Loaded with more exhaustive emotion and yearning, this track is similar to tracks from The Fray's last album.  As a music fan, I am always searching for the evolution of a band in a new album, and based on this new track I'm not so sure I'll find it on the new album- but I'm also not so sure that's a bad thing.  Here's "Heartbeat":
Heartbeat by The Fray