Frightened Rabbit – The Midnight Organ Fight

is immediately a stand out (hard with the amount of decent indie pop bands coming out of Scotland these days..) because of Scott Hutchison’s powerful yet meaningful vocals. Tracks such as the bluegrass-tinged ‘Good Arms vs Bad Arms’ are typically downtrodden-relationship framed but concern the aftermath of the break-up by portraying confused and internal emotions – ‘ I decided this decision some six months ago / so I’ll stick to my guns, but from now on it’s war / I am armed with the past, and the will, and a brick / I might not want you back, but I want to kill him’. Hutchison is creating the antithesis of being angry yet still emotionally involved; every line sold by his crackly Scottish accent.The band have departed some way from the melancholic folk-pop strongly evident in Sing the Greys, this clearly shown in the epic opener ‘The Modern Leper’ (sure to be a live hit). The album was recorded by Peter Katis (Mercury Rev, Interpol) over a period of two weeks, the album being mixed over the following fortnight. This was obviously done to create a more pure ‘pop’ record; sharp and sweet. This is largely achieved but Frightened Rabbit tend to drift back to past habits with songs such as ‘Old Old Fashioned.’ Although good, such songs do perhaps undermine the band’s obvious goal in creating that concise pop record. One feels that the ‘Modern Leper’/’Heads Roll Off’ route should have been pursued more diligently; this would be something that would certainly go to even further improve the band live.

Both electric and acoustic guitars are jammed against each other in songs such as ‘My Backwards Walk’ creating a satisfying sound that is used to incrementally build momentum towards Hutchison’s more powerful lines. The drumming of Scott’s brother, Grant, is yet another positive that can be taken from the record; the use of cymbals is often masterly to fill the quiet moments.

The Midnight Organ Fight