Frightened Rabbit: The Winter of Mixed Drinks
Frightened Rabbit: The Winter of Mixed Drinks
Friday, 12, Mar 2010 04:57
Fatcat, out now.
What's it all about?
The third album by Scottish five-piece Frightened Rabbit, The Winter of Mixed Drinks was written in the coastal town of Crail, in Fife, and recorded at Castle Sound Studios in Pencaitland and Tarquin Studios in Bridgeport, Connecticut, with Peter Katis (Interpol, the National) on board as producer. The Winter of Mixed Drinks follows Frightened Rabbit hugely acclaimed second LP The Midnight Organ Fight.
Who's it by?
Formed in 2003 in Selkirk, Frightened Rabbit consists of lead singer and songwriter Scott Hutchison, his brother Grant on drums, Billy Kennedy on guitar and bass, Andy Monaghan on guitar and ex-Make Model keyboardist Gordon Skene joining as a fifth member in 2009.
As an example...
"Here is evidence of human existence - a splitting binbag next to two damp boxes/I cannot find a name for them/They hardly show that I have lived." - Things
"This is a story and you are not in it/A flock of pages torn out/Here is a bedroom you've never been in and here's your shovel, there's the ground." - Nothing Like You
What the others say
"The Winter of Mixed Drinks is more polished, more polite than the band's earlier offerings, but it's reassuring to note that the band's scruffy-hearted charm still lies just below the surface." - BBC Music
"The Rabbit are a band overdue a breakthrough, and fans of everyone from Arcade Fire to the similarly revamped Maccabees will find much to love here." - Guardian
So is it any good?
It's clear from insistent opener Things that some alone time has been good for Scott Hutchison. Rather than the compelling self-loathing that powered Frightened Rabbit's soul-bearing brilliant second album, here we find Hutchison stripping back his life, abandoning his possessions and sprinting full-heartedly into a new world. The Winter of Mixed Drinks features glints of the pain and anxiety of its predecessor - drowning metaphors are repeated; first single Swim Until You Can't See Land is full of fear despite its jaunty pace; mesmerising focal point Skip the Youth begs for affection and second single Nothing Like You bristles between joy at having met a potential new love and a wounded desire to hurt an ex. But Hutchison's insistence that he's "been quite solid and content" recently, as opposed to the broken-hearted troubadour of The Midnight Organ Fight, feels genuine and can be viewed in the smoother edges of this third album, its oceanic expansiveness and the warmth of the harmonies.
By moving away from the overcast and sombre tone of The Midnight Organ Fight and weaving in and out of narratives about a resurgent protagonist The Winter of Mixed Drinks shows the band Frightened Rabbit at their most professional and vital. The catharsis of The Midnight Organ Fight is exchanged for magnificently crafted and jubilant singalongs and with the addition of a fifth member, their sound has become more intricate and compelling. It might not be as gripping and shocking as The Midnight Organ Fight but by moving on from heartbreak, binges and bitterness, and embracing a brighter future, The Winter of Mixed Drinks should provide Frightened Rabbit with the wider audience their passionate and communal music deserves.
8/10
Lewis Bazley