Frightened Rabbit - The Winter Of Mixed Drinks

[Inertia : 2010]

We so enjoyed watching the impassioned spit-flying-from-the-mouth live performance from Frightened Rabbit earlier this year at the Laneway Festival in Sydney, and they have brought the same visceral energy and orchestral pop melodies to their third LP The Winter Of Mixed Drinks.
It’s a fitting name for a record that mixes both grand majestic choruses (“Swim Until You Can’t See Land”) and the wretched aching we became accustomed to in their previous effort (Midnight Organ Fight, 2008).
The more upbeat vibes significantly outweigh the downers to make the record, on the whole, an uplifting piece of beautifully produced Glaswegian stompers, but unfortunately Frightened Rabbit – and in particular vocalist and songwriter Scott Hutchison – are at their best when in the depths of despair. There is nothing on The Winter Of Mixed Drinks that can compare to the anguished losers anthem “This Modern Leper” from Midnight Organ Fight, whose chorus goes: “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”. Brutal.
All the same, this is a great album – like a more ballsy version of early Snow Patrol (they were good in the early days haters – you can think what you want!) or a less polite incarnation of The National.
Our favourite track is “Fun Stuff” – a nicely slow-burning folk song almost like a secular hymn of sorts: violins, acoustic guitar roughly strummed, a chorus of vocals… It’s got all the markings of a traditional singalong. All it’s missing is a dodgy pub.




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