Scottish indie rock outfit Frightened Rabbit’s third album The Winter of Mixed Drinks is their most accessible to date but lacks the wow factor of their previous album, 2008’s The Midnight Organ Fight.
Some of the intensity of The Midnight Organ Fight does remain but overall this latest album feels perhaps too polished on places.
This can be seen as a natural progression; as they get older and more musically astute it is inevitable that the rougher edges will be smoothed out. But without the rough edges The Winter of Mixed Drinks gives the impression at times of being stadium rock by numbers. Imagine Kings of Leon with Scottish accents and you are somewhere near the modern sound of Frightened Rabbit.
But while The Winter of Mixed Drinks is not as good as Midnight Organ Fight it doesn’t make it a bad album. There’s some fine melodies throughout and the strong Scottish accents give the band a distinct, genuine feel when you consider the lame Americanised voices of UK stadium rock rivals such as Kasabian.
Among the best tracks is first single ‘Swim Until You Can’t See Land,’ with its simple, twinkly guitar riff over lyrics about the cold North Sea.
This nautical theme is unsurprising given the bulk of the album was written in the coastal town of Crail, near Fife. There’s a relaxed air to the songs, also unsurprising as it was recorded at a more peaceful time for the band following an intense period of touring.
‘Foot Shooter’ is another high point and among the quieter tracks. ‘The Wrestle’ gives some rare prominence to bass guitar and is probably the catchiest, most Kings of Leon-like.
Less good are the upbeat but bland ‘Living in Colour’ and ‘Skip The Youth’, which starts promisingly with an industrial wall of noise before degenerating into a generic, lighter- waving stadium-rock standard.
The Winter of Mixed Drinks is unlikely to radically annoy the band’s fans. Some will mutter about ‘the early good stuff’ but most will like it as they hear familiar voices and sounds, albeit with a more polished edge.
While in time Frightened Rabbit can look forward to some higher billings up the festival line-ups on the strength of The Winter of Mixed Drinks, fans would be advised to set lighters to half lit and giant flags to half mast for now. Frightened Rabbit are on a fast trajectory to stadium rock status, but are not quite there yet.
6.5/10
by Joe Lepper, Mar 2010
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