Listening The Frames is such a gift for your ears. Knowing they've been around since the mid-90s, their catalog has a nostalgic quality, but the songs themselves feel timeless in structure and supreme melody. They're often incredibly sad and heartbroken, but nonetheless alive, with a hunger for feeling, even in desperation.
I came across this performance in a YouTube spree this evening, and the refrain has slipped from my lips ever since. It's the kind of song that makes me want to pick up a guitar and play something simple, find a full band to chime in and send the message through. Not only is this a beautiful song, and an impressive performance with one hell of a referential interlude and mash-up ending, but Glen Hansard's opening monologue is too charming for words. Tough to beat those final harmonies too, from a song I never heard til now, the kind that are soft, subtle and haunting just before the applause cuts in and the lights come up. Those moments on stage, the kind that are so full of fleeting magic, are what can make a 16-year-old song sound fresh and familiar, wonderful and warm.
"Star, star, teach me how to shine, shine
Teach me so I know what's going on in your mind
'Cause I don't understand these people
Saying the hill's too steep, well
They talk and talk forever
But they just never climb
Falling down into situations
Bringing out the best in you
You're flat on your back again
And star, your every word I'm heeding
Can you help me to see?
I'm lost in the marsh
Star, star, teach me how to shine, shine
Teach me so I know what's going on in your mind
'Cause I don't understand these people
Saying the world is sleeping
They toss and turn forever
But no rest will they find
Star, teach me how to shine
Star, star, teach me how to shine, shine
Teach me so I know what's going on in your mind."
~Star Star
The Frames, Dance The Devil
