Frightened Rabbit: Quietly Now! 2009 Review
Featuring the Songs From The Midnight Organ Fight
Jul 13, 2009
The first question to ask when presented with a live album, especially a live album that replicates almost track for track one of the band's already existing albums (2008's The Midnight Organ Fight) is "what's the point?"
Particularly when said album is as accomplished as The Midnight Organ Fight. But fear not Frightened Rabbit fans, rather than detract from the power of their excellent sophomore album, the potty-mouthed lads from Selkirk, Scotland may have instead created its perfect companion piece.
It has been said that Frightened Rabbit are an accomplished and passionate live act, and if Quietly Now! is indicative of an average live show, then the next one simply can't come fast enough. Quietly Now! captures every fractured vocal note, every impassioned stage knock and every groan of equipment from the live acoustic set that was recorded in July of 2008 at the Glasgow venue, 'The Captain's Rest.' And the album is all the better for it.
Songs from Quietly Now!
- From the first notes of "The Modern Leper", it's almost hard to distinguish the song from its studio counterpart. It's frontman Scott Hutchison's desperate and raw vocals that alter it. "The Modern Leper" has always been a devastating and debilitating pop song; on this record, it still is, but it takes on a slightly more pensive tone.
- Not surprisingly, it's the versions of the more acoustic based tracks that work best in this particular live setting. "Good Arms Vs Bad Arms" is simply divine and "Poke" is hardly different from the recorded version of the song, but it doesn't need to be. An acoustic track is what it is, and it's the way that it works.
- "Floating In The Forth" is an ideal contender for the acoustic treatment and is sublimely recreated here with a nostalgic effect.
- Arguably the best song on The Midnight Organ Fight, "Head Rolls Off" with it's memorable line "Jesus is just a Spanish boy's name/How come one man got so much fame?" doesn't quite relate to the studio version, but it's certainly not a problem. On Quietly Now! it has a much softer almost lullaby-ish quality to it.
- The Twilight Sad's James Graham joins for the organ led "Keep Yourself Warm" and it sounds like he was born to sing it. Excellent.
- "Bright Pink Bookmark" and "Extrasupervery" are left out of this album, and wisely so. They are suffused with more orchestral attributes and would be a bit out of place in the acoustic context.
Of course there's much more, but suffice to say, none of it is a disappointment.
Quietly Now! Album Synopsis
To put out an acoustic album, particularly one that is almost an exact duplicate of a studio album takes guts. A band must be pretty comfortable with their own abilities because in a live album, all imperfections will show. Fortunately for Frightened Rabbit, their imperfections (if they can be called that) only add to their raw, emotional sound. It's a testament to the band's integrity and power, and to the durability of these coarse, potent songs that they've managed to pull it off.
In Quietly Now!, the crowd seems to be slightly mesmerized, and folks listening to the record may find themselves in the same position. Scott Hutchison's raw vocals are no less powerful than they are in the studio recording. If anything, they may be even more so. Listening to this live acoustic album is almost as good as being there, and it makes it easy to see why Frightened Rabbit have become one of the most sought-after live acts around at the moment.
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