Thursday, May 6, 2010
Frightened Rabbit at The Opera House, Toronto ON. 5-4-10
I’ll admit I was a bit disappointed with The Winter of Mixed Drinks. I think part of my disappointment stemmed from my relationship with The Midnight Organ Flight. I really love that album, it’s intensely charming, raw and dynamic. On that album, Scott Hutchison’s lyrics are honest, so much so that it almost gets uncomfortable, almost. Lines like “If we had a hormone race I’m bound to finish first”, “It takes more than fucking someone you don’t know to keep yourself warm” and “You’re the shit and I’m knee deep in it" pin down Organ Flight’s key sentiments. This album is about sex, and the end of a relationship. It’s both heartbreaking and powerful, defiant and devastating. The above lines I pulled from memory, and I’ll admit that I couldn’t do so with lyrics from Mixed Drinks, it’s just not the same for me. So much of Frightened Rabbit’s charm comes from lyrical honesty as well as their relatively unadorned music. A lot of that is lost on The Winter of Mixed Drinks, not in all cases but just enough to make the album a bit of a disappointment. Mixed Drinks has more production, it’s less clear, more about sonics than story. It’s not that it's is a bad album, it’s not at all actually, it’s just not the Frightened Rabbit that I fell in love with. Luckily, that band still exists, as proved by the incredible show I took in on Tuesday night. Much to my delight, the band played almost everything off of Organ Flight, and of course a lot of Mixed Drinks as well. The set list couldn’t have been better in my opinion. Every song felt powerful and climactic, and the band’s prowess never wavered. The show began with Skip the Youth, the longest song off of Mixed Drinks and continued to include such gems as The Twist, Old Old Fashioned, Good Arms vs. Bad Arms, and The Modern Leper as well as the band’s most recent singles Swim Until You Can’t See Land and Nothing Like You. The show’s defining moment, for me at least came with the encore. My hopes of hearing Poke, my favorite Frightened Rabbit song, had arisen with every hand off of an acoustic guitar, and once the band left the stage (pre-encore), I was afraid I would be leaving without hearing it. My fears were unfounded thankfully and I was able to see an even better performance of the song then I could have imagined. Scott came out solo for the first song of the encore, an acoustic, mic-less, crowd hushed version of Poke. To say I was enthralled would be an understatement, it was perfect. I couldn’t possibly review this show without touching on how unbelievably talented each member of this band is. Though the band began as a threesome featuring brothers Scott and Grant Hutchison along with Billy Kennedy, the band has grown into a quintet, which could be the reason behind the relative sound change. The band's dynamic was an incredible thing to watch, the guys constantly switched instruments, even crossing the stage to play keys on certain songs. Three of the bands five members played the keys at least once, alongside their respective instruments. There was acoustic/electric switches, a stand up drum, and perfect vocals. I would be remiss not to point out how absolutely greatful and happy the band seemed to be. Scott constantly thanked the crowd for their attentiveness and excitement, and the whole band seemed to be genuinely enjoying themselves. I know I talk a lot about stage presence in my reviews but it really is such an important aspect of a show. Maybe I’m naive, but I like to think that bands enjoy the experience as much as I do. I know it’s probably hard to be on the road, playing shows every night and it’s impossible to be in a good mood all the time. But I just think that music should have the ability to fix all that. In-band tension, poor dynamics or a lack of interest leads me to think that a band is less than invested in their songs, and since I am so invested in them and their music it seems like a slap in the face. That being said, I have yet to have such an experience at a show and this show was no exception. Despite my disappointment with their newest album, Frightened Rabbit’s Toronto show was a perfect combination of dynamic, galloping folk songs and hushed heartbreaking acoustics, they were exactly the band I was hoping to see.
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