From Scotland with Love Part One POSTED BY VINNIE BLESI, March 7, 2012 Share
In the last few years there has been an explosion of the Scottish music scene. Frightened Rabbit from Glasgow is one of those bands. On their latest release, "The Winter of Mixed Drinks", they mix their Scottish folk/pub style vocals with both great songwriting and a superbly produced CD that incorporates folk, noise, and pop into their own unique sound.
The opening track "Things" starts with a heavily sound effected guitar that gives way to a great pop song that contains enough texture and noise to make it stand out from the bland.
The CD contains many great songs that I call sing along songs. Taking a nod from the biggest Scotland import ever, Big Country, songs like "Footshooter", contain lyrics where you can sing along with "Oh, Oh". This is a really powerful but simple effect when performing live to get the audience involved, that harkens back to Scottish pub rock.
Although "The Winter of Mixed Drinks" contains great songs, except for the throwaway track "Man/Bag of Sand", the one exceptional standout track on this CD is "Skip the Youth". From its slow dirge buildup to its great lyrics and instrumentation until its ending din it gives a glimpse of the future potential of Frightened Rabbit.
"I've been digging that hole tonight
On my knees beneath the moon
All I need is a place to lie
Guess a grave will have to do
Won't you give me two minutes please?
Just let me cover my eyes
All the hammer and scrape has been chipping away
At the luster of life."
"Skip the Youth" by Frightened Rabbit, copyright Frightened Rabbit http://frightenedrabbit.com/
Stay tuned for "From Scotland from Love" parts 2 and 3.