Issue date: 3/18/10 Section: Film & Music

The band celebrates a new decade with a new album Photo: Jannica Honey

Scotland's Frightened Rabbit create folk-infused noisy rock Art: Corrie Jackson

Frightened Rabbit has spent the last seven years growing quietly in both numerical and musical terms. What started as a one-man-band in 2003 has expanded into a full-fledged five-piece rock outfit with the release of their third full-length album entitled, The Winter of Mixed Drinks. Often self-described as "noisy," the new album continues the Frightened Rabbit tradition of pounding rock songs, infused with an element of Scottish folk music. A constant underlying bagpipe-esque drone, heavily accented vocals and a certain raw quality all appeal to the origins of the group.

The Winter of Mixed Drinks is a highly personal odyssey marked by the departure into the unknown, which begins with the dull roar of guitars on high gain. The cutting vocals of Scott Hutchison achingly proclaim a shedding of useless material possessions. The initial track, simply titled "Things," relates the process of casting away a past self and venturing into the abyss with little more than the faith that there is more to life.

Departing from the brutally forthright lyrics of albums past, lead singer Scott Hutchison remarked that the new album was meant to reflect "pushing yourself out to the edge of things and being alone, feeling lost, and not knowing where you are." The new album's first single, "Swim Until You Can't See Land," describes a man afloat in the North Sea and certainly embodies this theme.

But amid this sense of loneliness, the song conveys a refreshing sense of freedom in letting go of the familiarity upon which we usually depend. Tinkling pianos and tambourines combined with a walking bass line pulse playfully throughout the repeated choruses, building a sing-along appeal.

With songs more layered than those of the previous two albums, Frightened Rabbit have built a sound fit for an arena. "The Loneliness and the Scream" and "The Wrestle" both build to anthemic proportions, complete with handclaps, gang vocals, and big reverberating guitars. The second single, "Nothing Like You," pounds out post-break-up bitterness at high tempo in a flurry of guitars and ride cymbals. One gets the sense that these tunes would make for a high-energy live show.

Throughout the album, a cycle of personal rise and fall is represented; "FootShooter" for example marks an instance of self-inflicted strife, while the gang vocals of "Living In Colour" sing of redemption: "You put the blood to my blue lips/Forced the life through still veins/Filled my heart with red again."

What is made clear in Frightened Rabbit's The Winter of Mixed Drinks is that the group possesses a certain passion about life and love. The album presents the listener with an amplified representation of quiet introspection about the triumphs and tragedies of everyday life.

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