The Road's Outgrown

From Frost’s The Road Not Taken to Kerouac’s On The Road, concepts of life progession and travel are ubiquitous in the artistic world. How appropriate then that The Roads Outgrown was compiled to coincide with The Frames’ upcoming US tour. This mix of b-sides, rarities, covers and live material has been drawn from a variety of sources, previously unreleased in America.

Opening with Lay Me Down the album includes all the tracks on the Headlong EP (including the wonderful covers of Will Oldham’s ‘New Partner’ and Mic Christopher’s ‘Listen Girl’) and the live version of ‘Fitzcarraldo’ from Breadcrumb Trail.

The previously unreleased ‘Sickbeds’ also gets an outing. Thematic parallels could be drawn here with the Egon Schiele-inspired ‘Santa Maria’. The track is a melting pot of styles from its spoken word intro to its echoey distorted guitars, woven together in a rich sonic tapestry in classic Framesian style.

From the Lay Me Down EP, the country-tinged melodic canter of ‘Tomorrow’s Too Long’ features with its co-flipside ‘Rise’, which builds layer upon layer of raw acoustica and soul-bearing lyric into an intense emotional climax.

Recorded in various flats, houses and studios everywhere from the US and France to the Czech Republic via Ventry this eclectic mix is an aural treat not to be missed.