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Scottish outfit Frightened Rabbit are back and with a major label contract for this, album number four it might finally be their time to step into the limelight and get the credit many believe they deserve.
Opening falsetto lyric “I am the dickhead in the kitchen giving wine to your best girl's glass” from ‘Acts of Man’ assures listeners that the attitude of lead singer Scott Hutchison has not altered. Although bleak at times, Hutchinson’s grasp and understanding of ever-present struggles in life is there for all to hear throughout the 12-song LP.
This guitar driven album is powerful and passionate in equal measures but it is the indie folk track ‘December’s Traditions’ that makes an early statement about the musical talent of the Glaswegian band. Releasing an album a week after fellow Scot heavyweights Biffy Clyro could have been seen as a risky move but this album has the credentials to not only challenge but exceed what Biffy have produced.
Anti-hymn 'Holy' continues the Frightened Rabbit experiment with the distorted guitars and muscular basslines forming the basis of a real anthem, taking the cynical observations present on The Winter of Mixed Drinks combined with folk-influences heard on Sing The Greys and Midnight Organ Fight.
Three years have passed since the last Frightened Rabbit record and having admitted that this album was written around the time Scott Hutchinson’s last relationship broke up, lyrically Pedestrian Verse manages to fathom deeper into bleakness. His refreshingly accented vocals will receive a lot of the plaudits as he wails effortlessly through ‘State Hospital’ the track from which the album title is taken from but with song writing opened up to the rest of the band for the first time, it certainly has a deeper feel to it.
Closing track ‘The Oil Slick’ is doused in tales of humour, anger, pain and love in a pseudo attempt at a love song which closes the song and album with the ever hopeful “There is love, misery loves you...." lyric. Pedestrian Verse is an album that will keep you engrossed to the end. With such powerful statements throughout hopefully Frightened Rabbit will be able to make similarly powerful movements into the limelight.
Below: Frightened Rabbit sign copes of Pedestrian Verse at Manchester HMV
