For the Birds

Few albums are rich enough with a sense of place that they transport you to a different landscape. Engineered by famed producer Steve Albini, the Frames' fourth full-length release, For the Birds, is such an album. But instead of dropping you in Ireland, the band's home, or in any other physical location, For the Birds lures the listener to an interior terrain both familiar and remote. Without a single throwaway track, this album deftly escapes pathos, despite its focus on clichéd indie-pop themes of heartache and loss. A slow pulse-like bass line, rueful violin, mesmerizing guitar, and precise percussion underscore but never underplay Glen Hansard's stripped-bare vocals and lyrics. Hansard asks, "So what happens when the heart just stops / Stops caring for anyone?" He answers, "The hollow in your chest dries up / And you stop believing," a response dispelled as too facile by subsequent tracks. "Headlong" and "Santa Maria" nosedive into torment while "Early Bird," "Fighting on the Stairs," and "Friends and Foe" pull out. You're left in the middle of a swirl of conflicted emotions. What's remarkable is that For the Birds, rife with mental rifts and ditches, somehow convinces you that you want to stay there.