Frightened Rabbit – “Pedestrian Verse”

Born from the typically Scottish complex of drinks and self-deprecation, with an inevitable dash of Christianity, Frightened Rabbit’s fourth full-length finds them at their beaming best. Sharp and smart, glistening under a deluge of Glaswegian rain, Pedestrian Verse is arguably the band’s most powerful collection of songs; full of irony and bitterness and cockeyed hope, the message is Scott Hutchison’s usual but the sound is appreciably full tilt.

The album’s first half shepherds brilliantly towards the glorious meridian of “Dead Now” and gives us the scrappiest guitar solo the band’s ever written before leaning on the strengths of “State Hospital” and “Nitrous Gas”. The former a plebeian’s tale turned epic and the latter a catchy ballad which, like the best of Frightened Rabbit, would be depressing if it wasn’t so damn charming. Opener “Acts of Man” stats things off auspiciously as Hutchison puts a unique falsetto spin on his voice and closer “The Oil Slick” keeps things upbeat and deliciously poppy.

Pedestian Verse is quotidian in content and divine in delivery. Easily gifting three or four of the best songs Frightened Rabbit has ever written, this record is the ultimate realization of the band’s true value. Ever since those diffident chords of “The Modern Leper” started it all off – for the mainstream, at least – the band has grown from crooning lurid bedroom-songs to delivering stunning, powerful pop gems. But don’t worry the crooning is still there, and it’s as lurid as ever.

Track Listing:

01. Acts of Man
02. Backyard Skulls
03. Holy
04. The Woodpile
05. Late March, Death March
06. December’s Traditions
07. Housing (In)
08. Dead Now
09. State Hospital
10. Nitrous Gas
11. Housing (Out)
12. The Oil Slick

Run Time: 42:24
Release Date: February 5, 2013

Check out the song “State Hospital”