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YES, THIS REALLY IS A RABBIT


Posted by Hartley On Feb 25, 2008

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Frightened Rabbit is a new band on Fat Cat records that hail from Glasgow. If you love The National, you will probably love Frightened Rabbit too. Unless of course, you have some odd aversion to Scottish accents. Which in that case, you probably will not enjoy the Rabbit very much at all. It's sad. It's true. But vocals count for so much, and let's say if your wife cheated on you with some duche-y Scottish soccer hooligan or some such foreign version of the dudemanbro, than hearing the soaring and gorgeous, but unfailingly Scottish-tinged new Frightened Rabbit jams will prolly cause a negative Pavlovian response thing.

Alas, I only have fine allusions to all thing Scot. Like Orange Juice - not the drink, the band, and, um, Belle and Sebastian (sorry, Lyle), and other incredibly twee and lovely sound purveyors. And so fittingly, I'm absolutely smitten by the Frightened Rabbit's new Fat Cat debut, The Midnight Organ Fight. Much of Fight's brilliance is no doubt owed to producer, Peter Katis. The man has worked with Spoon and Interpol and The National too, and he seems to be the go-to-guy for that sprawling, super-shimmery, spacey brooding guitar rock sound. His "atmospheric" production almost completely reinvents Frightened Rabbit. Fight is technically the band's sophomore album, but it's clear from the get-go that the thing plays with the energy and unbridled stakes of a debut. 

And then there's the songs. The album's first three cuts are all knock-outs, and unravel in a stadium-sized triptych. The opener, "The Modern Leper" sounds more like The Arcade Fire than The Arcade Fire seems to sound these days. "Leper" is full of marching snares, insouciant acoustic strums, tempo changes, and or course timpani. "I Feel Better" is Scotland's answer to U2's "Beautiful Day," and "Good Arms Vs. Bad Arms" is a memorable driving ballad, the kind that seems to score every inevitable lonely car ride home, and for good reason. 

In short, the only thing I don't like about this band is their unfortunate name. 

Here's "Good Arms Vs. Bad Arms" off The Midnight Organ Fight out on Fat Cat this March:

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