sings the greys

Frightened Rabbit at The Horseshoe Tavern (July 22nd)

Something quite amazing has happened here since Oct ’08, when this Scottish four-piece had performed to an enthusiastic half full crowd at Lees Palace. Either word really got around about how awesome that show was, or it was just a matter of time before people realized just how good this band is. On wednesday night, they sold out The Horseshoe Tavern.

They performed just about every song of The Midnight Organ Fight, with a bunch of songs from their earlier effort Sings The Greys. Their stage presence was captivating. The audience sung along to everything, including backing vocals to Scott Hutchison’s acoustic version of Poke during the first song of the encore. They ended the encore with fan favorite Keep Yourself Warm, which guitarist David Kennedy told me was the song indie kids ‘loved to hate’ since licensing the song to an episode of Chuck. And for once, I wasn’t the guy in the audience who was yelling out ‘Music Now!’ inbetween songs to get that song heard. It was a completely different group of fans. And the song was already on the setlist. In fact, there were no new songs in there. The band decided they’d like to save the new stuff for a later time.

Apparently the new record has been recorded, to be mixed in the coming weeks. We’ll have to wait a while for the record though, its schedule to come out in March of ’10. After finishing a whack of US dates this summer, they’ll be hopefully on a headlining European tour.

Looking ahead to when we’ll see them in Toronto next, it’ll probably be sometime next year and I’m betting they’ll sell out the Phoenix. Just a guess based on how things are going.

Music Now (from Sings The Greys)

[audio:http://soundcloud.com/indiemusicfilter/frightened-rabbit-music-now/download]

(more of Jackman’s photos from the show here).

The Midnight Organ Fight by Frightened Rabbit

The sophomore record is always the tricky one right? Isn’t that the way it goes? A band does something great, can that band do something great again?

I believe this is the case with Frightened Rabbits’ newest record The Midnight Organ Fight (TMOF).

If you’ve been on this site, you’ve probably seen that I’ve been watching these guys for a while. I’ve had time absorb their newest record and I’ve become quite a bigger fan of these three Scots from Selkirk. 2007 had the band touring tirelessly on the re-release of Sings The Greys (FatCat), the bands first record and smash introduction. Songs from Sings the Greys were written over a 2-year period while the new songs off TMOF were comprised quite quicker as a whole, with more time spent on preparation for recording. The record was produced by Peter Katis (Interpol, Spoon, The National).

The new album is best described as a ‘series of filmic vignettes, snapshots of self-destructing relationships and self-destructive behaviour, dark snippets sewn together into an ultimately uplifting drama of the everyday.’ Its optimism with an underlying darkness to it. True honesty and intrigue in these stories.

Still a three piece with Billy Kennedy and Scott Hutchison playing guitars, Kennedy’s dropped an octave to add weight to a bass-player-less band. Grant Hutchison’s drums add the necessary texture to make this three piece sound like many more. Head Rolls Off is not only a killer video, but my best guess at grabbing the attention of the masses. Old Old Fashioned is a, like the name, old fashioned foot-stomper. Poke (head to Sound Of Marching Feet to get it) is on the softer side, but truly beautiful.

Definitely a solid record, you’ll see it again on my best of this year list for sure.