Quick 'N Dirty Review: Frightened Rabbit | The Winter Of Mixed Drinks

Before we start, here's a quick look at the rating system that we use here at The Dirtywhirl:

100 - Classic Album; One Of The Best Of All Time
99-90 - Exceptional Work; Rush Out And Get This
89-80 - Very, Very Good; You Should Still Go Out And Get This
79-70 - Not Bad At All; Might Actually Be Worth Your Time
69-60 - Has Its Moments But On The Whole... Meh
59-50 - Won't Make Your Ears Bleed; Won't Make You Dance, Either
49-0 - Don't Waste Your Time; You're Smarter Than This (Probably) 

Now... onto the review:

Frightened Rabbit | The Winter Of Mixed Drinks

Expectations, dude. I've talked about their impact on records in the past and nowhere is that more apparent than on Frightened Rabbit's third record, The Winter Of Mixed Drinks. Full disclosure: I loved the Scotland act's last album, 2008's The Midnight Organ Fight. I'm talking full-on obsession mode to the point where I almost wore it out. Vocalist Scott Hutchison's Scottish brogue definitely isn't for everyone but, in fact, I loved the record so much that I considered it '08's best album. As a result, my expectations (there's that word again) were sky high for their follow up and perhaps The Winter Of Mixed Drinks suffered through no fault of its own because of this. Even in looking at the record in as unbiased a manner as possible, it's fair to consider it as inconsistent. The first handful of tracks (the solid if unspectacular opener "Things" and the ordinary "The Loneliness And The Scream" bookend the strong first single, "Swim Until You Can't See Land") are cause for immediate concern as the record sputters out of the gate, but as soon as "The Wrestle" starts spinning the album gets on track in a big way. While there's nothing as spectacular as The Midnight Organ Fight's "Keep Yourself Warm," the sweetly twinkling guitars on "Swim Until You Can't See Land" help to make it one of the band's best singles yet, "Living In Colour" is commanding and more anthemic than anything they've done to date, and "Yes, I Would" serves as a gorgeous close to the record. It's also obvious that The Winter Of Mixed Drinks isn't nearly as overt in its spleen venting as The Midnight Organ Fight was, Hutchison is still really fucking angry. You only have to take the record's highlight, "Nothing Like You," to see why. The lyrics, as backed by a pleasing melody, are deceptively cutting as Hutchison vents, "She was not the cure for cancer/ And all my questions still begged for answers/ But there's nothing like someone new/ And this girl, she was nothing like you." That is one of Frightened Rabbit's best qualities - the ability to take something absolutely horrid (previous lyrics include "It takes more than fucking someone you don't know/ To keep warm/ Do you really think for a house beat/ That you'll find your love in a hole" and in reference to love "Or should we kick its cunt in/ And watch as it dies from bleeding) and make it sound somehow beautiful. Unfortunately, this is also a record where there's precious little middle ground. Almost every song is either a standout or is just forgettable and while the progression from their 2006 debut, Sing The Greys, to The Midnight Organ Fight was astronomical, here it's less so. Ultimately, the record's probably not as strong as I would have hoped but that's not to say that it's not a very good album. Although they've backslid a bit, it's still far better than Sing The Greys so it could just be a case of the difficulty of measuring up to a great record. Or I could just have crazy high expectations. You pick.

RIYL: The Twilight Sad; We Were Promised Jetpacks; Chuck; Venting your spleen; Beautifully vulgar lyrics

Standout Tracks: "Nothing Like You;" "Swim Until You Can't See Land;" "Yes, I Would;" "The Wrestle;" "FootShooter;" "Living In Colour"

Dirty Rating: 85/100

Frightened Rabbit | The Winter Of Mixed Drinks - Listen On Lala