Newsflash: Frightened Rabbit no longer consists of just two awesome brothers. They’ve added a third Rabbit who’s called Billy and plays guitar. A year ago. Now you know. So, now that that’s out of the way, on to the show.
I really had no idea what to expect from this show. A YouTube video had popped up on a message board that I frequent and after reading less than favorable reviews of Scott’s voice, I decided to not watch it. And after their January 23rd show at Chicago’s Empty Bottle, I believe I made the right decision.
They opened with “Be Less Rude” which is one of those songs where the music is a bit drone-y and keeps you moving back and forth, wishing that it would never end. One of those “if you could see music” philosophical situations, I suppose. “BLR” was an excellent choice of opening song and Scott’s voice was in amazing shape.
After tearing through “The Greys” and “Music Now“, they came to “Behave”. As a recording, this is a gorgeous song. My interpretation of the song is that he’s describing a new love affair and he doesn’t know how to act around his new love interest. That’s just a guess. As a live song, it’s transformed into a heartfelt (near) spoken word. You feel like you’re eavesdropping on someone’s most intimate thoughts. While listening to this song, I had nearly forgotten that the boys on stage were the same boys who wear masks and play dead for publicity photos.
Scott, Grant and Billy make it look effortless to make such highly personal music. They’re very in tune with each other and for their ages, very mature (I’m sure they’ll hate me for saying that about them). I have a feeling that they’ll go on to achieve great success.
Other highlights of the show were two new tracks, “My Backwards Walk” and “The Modern Leper”, which for now can be heard on their myspace page.
Frightened Rabbit have a Christmas song, too! I know, I know, Christmas is over! Who cares! Well, you’ll care. And you’ll want to listen to this in December as well as every other month of the year. Check out the website of Chris, FR tour companion, to hear “It’s Christmas So We’ll Stop”.
Their next US stop will be Austin’s South By Southwest on March 14 and 16. Check them out while they’re still relatively unknown. They won’t be for long.
More information can be found at the band’s website.
Hmm, I wonder if they’ll do a few satellite shows around the SXSW ones?