Photo by Tim Richmond. Image courtesy of Atlantic Records.
Without getting too dramatic about it, it’s fair to say that some musicians just have a way of feeling necessary when times are tough. Whether it’s a long drive alone with Hank Sr. or a quiet wallow with Elliott Smith, some musicians provide a level of empathy that can make them feel like a friend in a strange land, or like a book of psalms to read in disastrous times.
More than any other band, Frightened Rabbit – a folk-rock act out of Selkirk, Scotland that’s coming to WorkPlay on Thursday, April 11 – has felt necessary in the anecdotal truths of my life and the lives of my close friends. Simultaneously funny and dire, acerbic and empathetic, intimate and anthemic, Frightened Rabbit has a genuine way of inspiring devotion.
Formed in 2003, the band first found real success with 2008’s The Midnight Organ Fight, an excellent and deeply personal record detailing the decline, fall and aftermath of frontman and songwriter Scott Hutchison’s relationship. In addition to being one of the all-time great breakup records, it also set the musical standard for Frightened Rabbit’s sound: a hugely energetic rhythm section, expansive choruses, and frankly desperate vocals delivered in Hutchison’s immediately recognizable brogue.
After an uneven – but often great – follow-up, 2010’s The Winter of Mixed Drinks, any fears fans may have had of treading water were allayed by Pedestrian Verse, released in February. The LP is a self-assured step in the direction of guitar-driven indie rock, and it’s their finest work yet.
Part of that has something to do with Hutchison’s dogged commitment to breaking the mold of what constitutes a Frightened Rabbit record. Perhaps most fundamentally, he eschewed his traditional songwriting process of exiling himself to seaside towns in Scotland and hashing out his feelings. Instead, he’s worked extensively with his bandmates, and the record feels like a much more cohesive, rocking effort as a result. In an interview with Weld, Hutchison explicitly described Pedestrian Verse as “more of a band album,” communicating the raw energy of their live shows in the studio.
Hutchison also took a shot at explaining the inspirational quality of his songs, despite the Auld Lang Syne melancholy, grim details and askew sense of humor that surround them: “I just try to express myself, and I guess that in the process of doing so, since human emotion is fairly universal, it translates. I write after some horrible shit goes wrong, and I write after the fact in order to make sense of it to myself. I don’t write cheerful songs, necessarily, but there’s always a hopeful tinge there, and I think that’s really important. And that’s just for me, to help bring on an acceptance of things.”
Even so, Pedestrian Verse looks outward thematically as well as expanding musically. Hutchison wrote the words “Pedestrian Verse” on his songwriting book as a self-deprecating way of focusing on someone other than himself, leading to some profoundly empathetic story songs about people who are, in Hutchison’s choice phrase, “a slipped disc in the spine of community” – outsiders who have slipped through the cracks.
Part of the reason for Hutchison’s easy transition into focusing outward is that “the soul of a lot of what we do is folk music,” he explained. “We explode it out into these verse forms, but pare everything down, and it’s just storytelling.”
In Hutchison’s mind, that’s part of a tradition he’s inherited, both as a Scot and as the frontman of a deeply Scottish band. Despite the great amount of heart in Frightened Rabbit’s songs, there’s a “dark, self-deprecating sense of humor” he feels to be part of that Scottish heritage as well, and it’s one of the many things that grounds direly emotional songs. In a way, that humor functions like a less arch version of Morrissey’s snide commentary in his work with the Smiths; it adds further dimension and empathy to songs about death, God, love and community.
It’s perhaps also an extension of that Scottish rootedness and self-deprecating humor that for as impassioned and grand as the songs can sound, they work on a relatable, human basis. “I have never wanted more to be your man and build a house around you,” Hutchison sings in his telltale accent on “Acts of Man,” Pedestrian Verse’s outstanding opening track. “But I am just like all the rest of them, sorry, selfish, trying to improve. I’m here, I’m here, not heroic, but I try.”
On “December’s Traditions” he sings, “If I had the answer, I’d write a book on what I know,” which might say everything you need to understand about Frightened Rabbit’s appeal and why so many fans are so eager to see them on Thursday. At every stage of their career, Frightened Rabbit have lacked for answers, but not the willingness to seek them. Instead of the declamatory grandstanding of a band like U2, Scott Hutchison and his bandmates have always seemed like a guy deep into his pint at the end of the bar, just trying to figure things out.
Frightened Rabbit’s combination of heart, rootedness, and defiant spirit translates into a live show that should be one of the most cathartic and resonant concerts Birmingham sees all year. But for their longtime fans in Alabama, it’ll just feel like seeing old friends.
Frightened Rabbit is playing WorkPlay Thursday, April 11 at 9 p.m. Tickets are $15, $18 on the day of the show. WorkPlay is located at 500 23rd St. S. For more information, call (205) 879-4773.