The Frames, 1992

"Glen plays acoustic guitar and generates electricity."

The Frames in 2005. Source: Wikimedia Commons (Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic license). https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:The_Frames,_cont.jpg

I was sorry to hear about the death of Glen Hansard, the frontman with The Frames. In tribute, here’s a review of a 1992 gig.

In case you haven’t read or seen The Commitments, And And! And was the name of the short-lived band that Hansard’s character Outspan and his mates had at the beginning of the story.

THE FRAMES

KRAZY HOUSE, LIVERPOOL

MELODY MAKER, February 8 1992

THE Frames is a better name than And And! And but not as good as The Commitments. But those were fictional anyway and The Frames are real.

And (unlike some Dublin bands) they look like real people - with real lives outside the band. The bassist looks like a Beatnik, the guitarist look like a blonde punk throwback, the backing singer is quite beautiful, the drummer is mostly bald, the fiddle player looks sad and serious, and singer Glen Hansard (apart from looking just like the guitarist in the film) looks like the boy next door.

In “The Commitments”, Glen had mostly one expression (bemused). In The Frames, he has lots: wide-eyed and wild, clownish, pensive and justifiably pleased (this actually says a lot about what they sound like). He’s the sort of frontman whose enjoyment is just the right side of comical. Unlike some Dublin bands, these do not take themselves too seriously. Commitment (sorry), yes, straight faces, no. Glen plays acoustic guitar and generates electricity. The fiddle screams over a sweet tune. The single “The Dancer” dances. There are slow bits leading into fast bits and the pattern doesn’t change much but the colours are lovely.

The six sounds race each other around each song, stopping only long enough for you to wonder whether tradition is what you do with rock music or what you do with folk and whether The Frames have got much to do with either.

The main thing is the unbridled attack on the music (even the slow bits are tense). The next thing is something about what the songs are saying, or how they’re saying it. More often than usual, you can hear the words.

The most Irish thing is not the fiddle (sometimes commendably uncomfortable, at others just spoiling for a dance). It’s something to do with the phrasing. Things like being able to scream you guts out and sound poetic at the same time, like a sense of narrative and reminiscence (intros hint at stories, the word “song” is mentioned more often than usually happens these days).

Forget the fiction. The Frames are the genuine living and breathing thing. And with more life and breath than most.

Watch The Frames

Here’s a great video of the band Doing The Dancer.