Frightened Rabbit
Words by Matt Browne
In this age of post-modern estrangement, the condemnation of popular music’s promiscuity from an apparent saviour is a line in danger of wearing a bit thin. We’ve just heard it all before, haven’t we? All too often, the path of the righteous is spat and shat upon by the hackneyed self-entitlement of minor bands who not only think that they’re a lot better than they are, but churlishly assume that an incendiary remark about pop immediately renders them a superior alternative. How nice it is, then, to hear of a band who actually cares – almost like a concerned father who’s not mad, just disappointed – about pop. Frightened Rabbit, rather than forsaking it, want to keep pop music alive “by getting it out of a dress and into a sweater.” How refreshingly considerate of them.
Despite an air of benevolence – lead singer Scott Hutchinson affectionately warns that pop “is going to catch a death of cold if it doesn’t dress properly” – it would be a mistake to assume that Frightened Rabbit are in any way mawkish. “Some people expect us to be these safe, shy, twee indie fellows; but I think we have quite a powerful aspect – especially in our live performances”. For sure, their live act is almost somatic, with the gluts of soaring sweat emanating from the band adding to the immediacy of Scott’s cathartic confessional. Just listen to their live album Liver! Lung! FR!; the efficacy of Scott’s yelping entreaty that “it takes more than fucking someone to keep yourself warm” is irresistible – both coarse and compassionate. Considering this tack, you sense that perhaps Frightened Rabbit are more a Travis Bickle to pop music’s Iris, than a homely father figure.
Put simply, they’re not to be trifled with. Whilst their references to Counting Crows don’t always stop at Scott’s tendency to recall the fragile timbre of Adam Duritz, and their folky-indie-pop counterparts can be so anodyne as to make Vernon Kay seem horribly fucking offensive, you’d be wrong to let these trivialities deter you. Peter Katis, responsible for the astute production of Interpol’s Antics, has tightly thickened Frightened Rabbit’s sound in Midnight Organ Flight, their last studio album, for an altogether beguiling result; a procedure which clearly inflated Scott’s musical ambition.
Take the statement that “anyone can be in Frightened Rabbit”, for instance. “That idea was originally about fleshing out the live performances”, he explains, “and if we want to layer up the next album, we’ll probably need more people on stage. There’s no reason why we shouldn’t become quite a large band; I really don’t see why it should matter”. Indeed, why should it matter? After all, Frightened Rabbit has fattened since it’s modest inception as Scott’s on-stage moniker back in 2003, and considering that TV On The Radio are name-checked as a current auditory influence, we can probably expect a hearty intricacy with their next offering.
If Frightened Rabbit are here to disabuse pop of its sluttish ways, they’re going about it with conviction but without conceit. “I’ve seen it been done wrong so many times”, Scott complains. “Some bands think it’s cool to look jaded and superior – but it’s not very boring, what we do for a living, is it? Well I don’t find it boring anyway, so fuck them.” Yeah, we agree, fuck them.
http://www.myspace.com/frightenedrabbit
Posted Sat, April 04, 2009
Comments on Frightened Rabbit
Amazing metaphors. Notably, “a concerned father who’s not mad...” Just great.
Posted by: Kristen | 07/04/2009 at 08:15