Frightened Rabbit - 'The Winter Of Mixed Drinks'
I've been inspired by the weird new MGMT song (stream/download over at Pitchfork) to do a bit of an unconventional review of Frightened Rabbit's third LP, 'The Winter Of Mixed Drinks'.
So here's ten things you need to know about the new album:
1) Album opener 'Things' begins in an similar manner to 'I Feel Better' off their astounding last album, 'The Midnight Organ Fight'.
2) Which makes you think that this could well be taking that sound on then topping it.
3) Not quite. But it's still good. Just not quite as intensely emotional.
4) It's an album of consistency, a "grower".
5) But there are a couple of stand out tracks.
6) Lead single 'Swim Until You Can't See Land' is by far the highlight. Inspirational.
7) But recent single 'Nothing Like You' is Frightened Rabbit's most accessible single, three minutes of unrelenting pop.
8) ...even though it has an awful central lyric ("she was not the cure for cancer"). Poor form, guys.
9) Speaking of poor form, why is there an interlude in the middle of the album?!
10) Despite the niggles, this is a good album from a GREAT band.
If you haven't checked out Frightened Rabbit yet, I urge you do so. And in fact, to encourage you, here's some goodies. To start with a couple of tracks from a Marc Riley session from last November. Streaming only, I'm afraid. Also, please lend your support to BBC 6Music here, as it may be axed in spite of its unique and diverse provision of music.
Frightened Rabbit - Swim Until You Can't See Land (BBC 6Music Session) by fadedglamourblog
Frightened Rabbit - Nothing Like You (BBC 6Music Session) by fadedglamourblog
Then there's also this tasty cover of 'The Twist' from the last album, by Jacob Ruefer. Jacob's also laid the track over some Fred Astaire and Ginger footage, which is lovely but unfortunately he's disabled embedding so you'll just have to YouTube it, I'm afraid. Other than that, good work Jacob. Stream/download below.
'The Winter Of Mixed Drinks' was released on March 1st in the UK and is out today in the US/Canada.
Website // MySpace // Twitter
We're a collaborative British music, film and TV blog. "Trying to find the perfect match between pretentious and pop."
