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The Fray's sophomore release picks up where How to Save a Life left off, reprising the same blend of piano-led ballads and midtempo pop/rock that helped establish the band in 2005. International tours and platinum-selling singles may have turned the Fray into a superstar act, but the actual songcraft remains virtually unchanged, with songs like "You Found Me" and "Enough for Now" sounding eerily similar to their predecessors. Those parallels are strengthened by producers Aaron Johnson and Mike Flynn, both of whom helmed How to Save a Life and repeat the job here to predictable effect. What's different, then, is the occasional "widening" of the Fray's sound; the rock numbers are slightly louder (culminating in a percussive, distorted breakdown during "We Build Then We Break") and the ballads somewhat softer, with "Ungodly Hour" standing out as the sparsest of the bunch. The band seems uncomfortable with either extreme, however, either overshooting the rockers or reducing the ballads to little more than Isaac Slade's zealous vocals, which are often so garbled with angsty passion that they might as well be caricaturing the American accent.
Condition:NEW! Marked down notched on case.
TRACK LISTINGS
Disc 1
1 Syndicate
2 Absolute
3 You Found Me
4 Say When
5 Never Say Never
6 Where the Story Ends
7 Enough for Now
8 Ungodly Hour
9 We Build Then We Break
10 Happiness
Disc 2
1 Heartless
2 Never Say Never
3 You Found Me
4 Where the Story Ends
5 Fair Fight
6 Be the One
7 Uncertainty
8 How to Save a Life
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