I got my first taste of Frightened Rabbit last year when one of their songs was featured in NBC’s Chuck, and since then I’ve developed a great affection for their music through their first two albums: Sing the Greys and The Midnight Organ Fight. Their newest effort, A Winter of Mixed Drinks, keeps the aspects that were so great about The Midnight Organ Fight and polishes them up, but with an extra bit of optimism. It may be called A ‘Winter’ of Mixed Drinks, but the album surely is a good way to start off the spring.
Starting off with what I can call one of my favorite Frightened Rabbit songs, “Things,” the band has obviously done something right. A song about leaving behind unnecessary “things,” and metaphorically stripping down to your skivvies, its constant piano chord, underlining acoustic guitar and obvious snare drum gives the song a great sense of moving forward. Almost like a train leaving the home station, “Things” sets the positive vibe for the rest of the album.
From there, the album slows down a bit into the first single, “Swim Until You Can’t See Land,” which employs a chorus in the second half of the song, lots of strings, and hand claps, building the song into a incredibly full and strong ending. Along with being the first single, a short reprise of “Swim Until You Can’t See Land” begins “Man/Bag of Sand,” another of the slower songs later on in the album.
Track three, “The Loneliness and the Scream” is one of my favorites off the album, finishing in a minute-long repetition of “oh-wah-oh-o-ohhh,” again accompanied with hand claps. Those claps ran through the album as an underlying ingredient helping to tie it all together – like lemon zest. It brightens up the dish…er…song. A few of the other standouts on the album are “Nothing of You,” “FootShooter,” and “Living In Colour,” which all are great car tunes. Play these ones with your windows wide open on a sunny day, even if you’re stuck in traffic. That way you can feel better while you’re drowning out all the radios playing Justin Bieber.
Unlike The Midnight Organ Fight, A Winter of Mixed Drinks doesn’t dwell on the miserable side of life. In fact, track number nine is literally called “Not Miserable,” which you could call the most somber of all the songs on the album. But even then, it finishes with an uplifting sound, strings and all. Lead singer/songwriter Scott Hutchison said that the album title referred to the “moments of joy” after especially lonely times during one’s life, the moments that “define the dark period.” That’s exactly how the album felt – acknowledging the sad stuff, but emphasizing the happy stuff.
I don’t know what inspired Frightened Rabbit when they wrote this album, but it could very well have been what the title proclaims. A Winter of Mixed Drinks stays consistent in the theme, but doesn’t lack in any variety. Almost like a few mixed drinks. They may taste different, but they all the get lead to the same thing – feeling a little bit happy.
Track Listing:
1. Things
2. Swim Until You Can’t See Land
3. The Loneliness and the Scream
4. The Wrestle
5. Skip the Youth
6. Nothing Like You
7. Man/Bag of Sand
8. FootShooter
9. Not Miserable
10. Living In Colour
11. Yes, I Would
