Seven years after their debut album How to Save a Life, The Fray still sound the same. Which is not a bad thing judging by the sales numbers as Scars and Stories went straight to #4 on Billboard 200 Chart with over eighty thousand copies. But how much more of this gloomy music can the audience take?
Inspired by travels to different corners of the world, the album is a compilation of various stories. Unfortunately most of those are sad stories – about genocide in Rwanda ("Heartbeat"), effects of division of Berlin Wall ("1961") or defeated boxer ("The Fighter") – what dictates the atmosphere of this diligent but also dreary album.
The music is melodic and spirited, just like The Fray’s fans are used to, although producer Brendan O’Brien seemed to have pushed it from piano to guitar focused rock. Nevertheless it is still not enough to say that Scars and Stories might be somehow revolutionary. It could use at least one hyperactive song with buzzing guitar and too fast drums to slightly lift the mood.
Critics, similarly to fans, are divided. Reviews differ from unfavourable ones with only two stars from Rolling Stone to positive comments from American Songwriter and Sputnikmusic.
Scars and Stories is not that kind of set you’d listen to while getting ready to go out. Even though opener "Heartbeat" seems zappy and energetic, the music gets more and more sentimental as time passes. Howling vocals and emotional baggage ooze from nearly every piece.
The album leaves you bewildered by how your mood has changed in the last 45 minutes. It’s almost like the catharsis in ancient Greek with a slight but essential difference: in theatre the audience was meant to achieve the level of emotional purification while here it seems like the roles have changed.
Scars and Stories is the essence of The Fray with catchy choruses and toned down, earnest strophes. It also proves that the four-piece from Denver is not yet ready to come out of their comfort zone. Perhaps that was their intention, to hold us in anticipation for the next album.
MP3 Stream: "The Fighter"
