Frightened Rabbit Jumps to Major Notoriety

Frightened Rabbit is an amazing Scottish quartet, consisting of Scott Hutchison (vocals, guitar), Grant Hutchison (drums, vocals), Billy Kennedy (guitar, keyboards) and Andy Monaghan (keyboards, guitar). The band has released two studio albums, with a third to be released at the end of this month. Their second release, The Midnight Organ Fight, really shows off their earnest, straightforward songwriting skills. Their first song, "Modern Leper," simply oozes with soul and vulnerability. It starts out rather slow, then pulls you in with a roar at the end. The lyrics simply grab you by the throat and don't let go - "Is that you in front of me/ Coming back for even more of exactly the same?/ You must be a masochist/ To love a modern leper on his last leg." "Backwards" is another strong song that reveals Scott's spare yet emotive songwriting: "I'm working on my faults and cracks/filling in the blanks and gaps/and when I write them out they don't make sense/I need you to pencil in the rest." Grant's drumming is felt strongly through the record, yet it doesn't detract from the songs. In Heads Roll Off, Scott's voice has a bewitching folk quality that is somewhat reminiscent of Glen Hansard's (from the movie Once and the band The Frames). Simply marvelous.

You can catch Frightened Rabbit at Portland's Holocene on October 30th.