I went to a Frightened Rabbit (FR) concert a couple years back, and these guys are the sh*t.
They are an indie rock band with an amazingly unique sound from Scotland. They have been around since 2003 and will be your next favorite band to drive to.
Now I am going to preface this post with a caution: although they are musically talented and passionate, the lead singer Scott Hutchison has a voice that is not pitch perfect. FR are not the sort of band you listen to if you like polished, technically accurate artists.
So why should you listen to them?
I have selected four songs that perfectly capture why FR are one of my favorite bands. (It would help if you were driving while listening to these with the music blaring for the full effect. Headphones would also be acceptable.)
1) Backwards walk
Now picture the scene. You just had yet another fight with your significant other. It wasn’t a big fight, but bad enough to wonder why you can’t just walk away.
So you drive. You drive as long as it takes to clear your head, and when you get there, you come to one clear realization: you’re in love.
2) Keep yourself warm
This is for anyone who has been lonely and looked for intimacy in all the wrong places. As Hutchison perfectly puts it “It takes more than f*cking someone you don’t know to keep warm.”
3) Swim until you can’t see land
This song is more universal and is about starting something new. Whether it’s because you are scared of leaving something behind or just scared of the new start, Hutchison tells you to dive in and swim. Not just swim, but swim so far that you won’t be able to turn back. “Swim until you can’t see land.”
4) Holy (alternate version)
Now this song will speak to most people on some level or another, but it is particularly great for anyone who has or is experiencing the loneliness that comes from dissonance with religion. I feel it is also perfect for anyone who just feels different from those around them. I’m not sure if this is my favorite of the four because it speaks to me personally, having grown up within a religious environment that I couldn’t connect to, or because this is genuinely their best song.
What makes FR epic is that their songs are honest, real, and touch on themes that are relatable. As I mentioned earlier, they are completely unpolished and all the more relatable for it. They are the sort of band that if you could, you would call them up to get plastered drunk together after a shite day.
Check out this interview with the band on how they write their epic songs: here.
FEATURED IMAGE: By Julio Enriquez under [CC-2.0], via Flickr
