10.22.2008

Frightened Rabbit: Liver! Lung! FR! (2008)


New Wax


I was blind-sided by Glasgow's Frightened Rabbit. They seemingly came out of nowhere with their magnificent sophomore album The Midnight Organ Fight, which is by far my most played album of 2008 according to last.fm. The band has just released a live album entitled Liver! Lung! FR!, which is essentially a live mostly-acoustic rendition of The Midnight Organ Fight recorded during a gig in their hometown. While I'd usually frown on this sort of egregious capitalization on the success of an album, I've become one of their many new fans frothing at the mouth for any new material, even if it's not entirely essential. Liver! Lung! FR! is interesting not only because it offers up stripped-down versions but because the band exudes a blue-collared live energy that isn't as readily apparent on their studio tracks. As the unadorned chord progression of "The Modern Leper" gives way to Scott Hutchison's unabashedly Scottish accent, I imagine a crowd soaked in equal parts sweat and beer hanging on his every forlorn word. As an added bonus, the album also contains an appearance by the Twilight Sad's James Graham on the song "Keep Yourself Warm." Besides being a great live album filled with playful banter and musical gems, Liver! Lung! FR! also solidifies the notion that Scottish people just sound cooler dropping F-bombs and saying words like "trousers" and "arse." Highly recommended. -- Capt. Obvious

at 8:22 PM

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