I'm writing to you a little disappointed tonight, because I was supposed to see Josh Ritter open for The Frames at the Rhythm Room in Phoenix, but alas, there was no Josh Ritter. Instead there was a guy named Andrew Lloyd Swordfish. I have no idea if that's his real name, but if it is I'd be fucking amazed. He was entertaining enough, and played a relatively short set of quirky ditties, alternating between him on guitar and him on keyboards. He was goof-rock at it's local musician best, with a tune about a trashman killing himself, another proclaiming he doesn't want Michael J. Fox to die, and another beseeching the president to raise the minimum wage. The crowd enjoyed him, as did I, but he was no Josh Ritter.
The Frames took the stage around 9pm to a crowd of about eighty people. They seemed happy with the turnout and commented, 'We're The Frames, we're from Ireland, we didn't know if anyone would show up tonight'. I'm not too familiar with the band, having only one of their cd's Set List, which is a live recording of a show they did in their native Dublin in November 2002. I enjoyed several of the tracks, but never gave it much play time in my ever-changing rotation of music. That was my first mistake- this is a great band that deserves more than just a casual listen.
They are five musicians that clearly love what they are doing and their enthusiasm translates into really beautiful music that at times is soft and melodic and swooning with soft whispery vocals, and at other times heavy and loud with plenty of guitar reverb amid wailing vocals. They truly run the gamut, and they have the formula perfectly mastered. In unison they will bring songs to a halting quiet and then quickly raise the tempo to twice what it had been. It's a pretty amazing sight to see out of a band that's been around so long, their fury seems more teenage garage band than seasoned rock band. Their influences, or comparisons to their sound are hard to pinpoint, but they are obviously influenced by traditional Irish folk music, especially with a violin player as a full-time member of the band. Their sound hugely benefits from the violin, which gives the songs a soaring quality. Ah, as you can see, I can't say enough about The Frames. I'll definitely be checking out their catalog of music, and I recommend you do the same, or better, check them out if they come to your town. I did just that, which means I can cross #194 off my list: go see The Frames.
**Two songs into the set I decided to try and keep track of the setlist, as per my habit, though I wasn't very familiar with their songs, so it will take me a while to sort out the song titles, but I'll post an update when I do...
The Setlist:
1- ?
2- ?
3- Lay Me Down
4- What Happens When the Heart Just Stops
5- God Bless Mom
6- Pavement Tune
7- Fake
8- Your Face
9- Revelate
10- Star Star
11- Santa Maria
12- Red Chord
No comments:
Post a Comment