Rock & Pop: In the Picture at Last ; It Has Taken 13 Years, but the Frames Are out of the Celtic Fringe and Being Compared to Radiohead

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King folkie Damien Rice has one hell of an ear. His excellent 2003 debut O was raw and exposed, drenched with understated grandeur, but it packed a sting that stunned the music world into submission. When it comes to soul-crushing passion, startling melodies and biting lyrics, Rice is a bankable authority: when he speaks, those in the know listen. And who does he rate? 'Radiohead and The Frames,' says Rice. 'They set standards I aspire to.'

Radiohead, sure. But The Frames? You probably don't know them, but clearly you should. The band might deserve Rice's big-up, but Glen Hansard, The Frames' amiable front man, is no Thom Yorke. Sitting in the back room of the Paris …