#2 on the 2010 Musical Bacon Calendar

The Winter of Mixed Drinks by Frightened Rabbit

After a large number of somewhat out there — but nonetheless great — albums across the 2010 Musical Bacon Calendar, we now come to a great, straightforward indie-rock album. You may not be familiar with Frightened Rabbit, and if that’s the case, do what you need to to ge acquainted. With ballads, guitar picking folk ditties, and hard rocking anthems, there is something in The Winter of Mixed Drinks for every rock & roll fan. Editor, lead writer, and all-around owner of the site I do my “professional” writing for, Chris Burlingame at Another Rainy Saturday, summed the album up quite well by saying, “The newer album succeeds at finding a fuller, more complex sound that includes adding string and horn arrangements to their mix. Polished, maybe, but the sound is richer and I think for the better.”

I had the immense pleasure of seeing Frightened Rabbit play at Showbox at the Market earlier this year, and I reviewed their performance thusly:

Scott comes across as one of the most sincere people I’ve ever had the pleasure to hear sing. He and the other four guys in his band have “nicest blokes you’d ever meet” tattooed all over them. I want to bring them to my grandma’s house, where I imagine they would introduce themselves and then volunteer to shut all of her storm windows for the pending winter. Scott’s brother Grant plays drums and sings backup. The band is filled out with three more guitars (and the occasional vocals, bass, additional percussion, or keyboards) played by Billy Kennedy, Andy Monaghan and Gordon Skene.

Frightened Rabbit have three full length albums to pull from, but with the exception of one song, “Be Less Rude,” from their debut album, Sing the Greys, they stuck to songs from their more recent, more successful albums. They managed to play nearly everything I could hope for: ten songs from 2007’s The Midnight Organ Fight, and seven from this year’s The Winter of Mixed Drinks. The one glaring hole in the setlist was “Skip The Youth,” my favorite song from the new album.

“Skip the Youth” is still my favorite song on the album, but there’s not a bad one in the bunch. The rather sweet video above is for probably the second-best song on the album, “The Loneliness & The Scream.”

While the band is still unheard of by mainstream U.S. standards, I feel they’re on the verge of breaking into the mainstream. This album, while it’s been out for most of the year, could be the one that pushes them over the hump. True, it’s proving more and more easy to hear new music online, but reaching the ears of the masses is inversely more difficult. I’m not entirely sure it’s even possible without a major label’s help. But, fingers crossed, these five guys from Glasgow won’t be hidden away on countdowns like mine in the near future.

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3. The Age of Adz by Sufjan Stevens
4. Odd Blood by Yeasayer
5. Mines by Menomena
6. Contra by Vampire Weekend
7. Go by Jónsi
8. The Suburbs by Arcade Fire
9. Gorilla Manor by the Local Natives
10. The Head and the Heart by the Head and the Heart
11. Special Affections by Diamond Rings
12. Treats by Sleigh Bells
13. Write About Love by Belle & Sebastian
14. Wild Smile by Suckers
15. Learning by Perfume Genius
16. Forgiveness Rock Record by Broken Social Scene
17. Expo 86 by Wolf Parade
18. One Life Stand by Hot Chip
19. Big Echo by The Morning Benders
20. Here’s To Taking It Easy by Phosphorescent
21. This is Happening by LCD Soundsystem
22. The Mistress by Yellow Ostrich
23. Halcyon Digest by Deerhunter
24. Been Listening by Johnny Flynn
25. The Wild Hunt by The Tallest Man on Earth
26. Lisbon by The Walkmen
27. Scratch My Back by Peter Gabriel
28. All Day by Girl Talk
29. A Storm – A Tree – My Mother’s Head by Bobby Bare Jr.
30. 03 to TEN by Knathan Ryan
31. In This Light On This Evening by Editors