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May 16 2008
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Elly Roberts reviews
Frightened Rabbit: The Midnight Organ Fight
Distributed by
Fat Cat Records
- April 2008
- Rating: 4/10
- Vote and comment on this album:
When a band gets together, they need clearly defines musical aims. FR are all over the place.
Glaswegian bros Scott and Grant Hutchinson with Billy Kennedy make up
Frightened Rabbit. Together over a four year period the laddies have
developed a very distinctive sound with some interesting songs: nothing more.
They’re not your Franz Ferdinand, Kooks, Razorlight kind of band because their
songs don’t have commercial appeal whatsoever, despite the PR blur stating
they can nail a perfect pop song.
It also claims that FR aimed to create a more ‘pop’ sounding album and that
they’re essentially folk-tinged pop songs. Confusing or what? Somebody needs
to quickly tell them what pop music actually is. Unfortunately that aim hasn’t
been achieved, so we’re left to judge Midnight Organ Fight for what it
is – a mish mash.
The Modern Leper lends itself more to grungy soft rock, with I Feel Better Better
eventually turning out a messy. Things get ‘better better’ on the alt-folk
Good Arms vs.Bad Arms, which is one of their finest moments, but it’s
still not pop.
The melodies and harmonies are exquisite though, and it’s a delight to hear
them hit form, only to follow it with an average attempt at lightweight rock,
Fast Blood. Old Old Fashioned has neat country/rockabilly shuffle, making
it their catchiest ditty so far. The Twist is the kind of track that
you can easily dismiss.
Adding instrumentals Bright Pink Bookmark and Extrasupervery,
at barely one minute, is beyond my comprehension. My Backwards Walk
is a stab at U2-like stadium rock-riffs but leaves you frustrated and wanting.
Again, is it pop? No. Reflecting their Celtic strains, they unleash a superb
raging rocker in the form of Keep Yourself Warm, and it excellent too, if
long overdue.
Thankfully, they up things in terms of mere songcraft with the gorgeous Poke,
a floaty ballad dripping in harmonies and melody, giving a huge nod to quaint
Americana soundscapes. Just when it gets really good, they dump depressing and
spooky ballad Who’d You Kill Now? to finish.
File under: Need to sort their musical agenda, quickly.
The full list of tracks included are :
1. The Modern Leper
2. I Feel Better Better
3. Good Arms vs. Bad Arms
4. Fast Blood
5. Old Old Fashioned
6. The Twist
7. Bright Pink Bookmark
8. Heads Roll Off
9. My Backwards Walk
10. Extrasupervery
11. Poke
12. Floating In The Forth
13. Who’d You Kill Now
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Review & concert pics copyright © Elly Roberts, 2004-2008.
For prints of any of Elly's concert pics online,
email Elly
or call 07765 862017.
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DVDs reviewed by the editor are watched on a Panasonic TXW32R4 32" widescreen TV
connected to either a Creative Dxr2 DVD-ROM player or Microsoft Xbox and
played through a Sony STR-DB930 amplifier.
PC games reviewed by the editor are on:
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