Artist The Fray

The worst that could be said about The Fray is that it sounds too much like Coldplay—which it does. Piano-driven ballads and singer Isaac Slade’s soft bellow on 2005’s How To Save A Life make for innocuous pop-rock that leans heavily on Parachutes-era composition. But that kind of relatable, sensitive-guy songwriting coupled with soul-searching sing-along choruses is what the Denver band is known for, and it’s certainly proven to be the stuff of Grammy-nominated material. The self-titled 2009 follow-up didn’t offer much surprise: Slade’s croon was as pained and self-reflective as ever, as it continues to be on the band’s newest single, “Heartbeat,”—off the new Scars & Stories—with some Chris Martin falsetto riffing on the hook.

Updated 04/18/2012