Review Summary: As convincing a ride into the depths of human heartbreak as you’re ever likely to hear.
Obviously this can’t be proved, but I’ve always thought that the strongest of all human emotions are those of love and depression. As you’d imagine, a combination of the two can be particularly powerful, and this is why music which does so can make such an impact upon listeners. Albums like
Blood On The Tracks,
Sea Change and
For Emma, Forever Ago are prime examples of this, and while they are always going to have a greater effect on those who can relate with them, it’d take someone with a heart of icy stone to deny their ability to move. Frightened Rabbit’s second album,
The Midnight Organ Fight can be placed in the same boat, both in terms of its subject matter and its outstanding overall quality.
Formally the solo venture of frontman Scott Hutchinson, Frightened Rabbit morphed into a full band in 2004 before releasing the promising yet unremarkable LP
Sing The Greys. After stating relative dissatisfaction with that debut, Hutchinson stated his intention to expand the project with their next release, though it’s clear that that’s not all that happened in his life in the years leading up to this sophomore. It’s not as if the music he had penned beforehand was particularly cheerful, but there’s an unmistakable air of heartbreak, desperation and longing in these songs which simply blows away any of his previous efforts. Only he will know the full extent of the personal torment he endured during that time, but the way in which he channeled such raw feeling into this album is nothing short of incredible, with every last strand of his sadness poured into it’s grooves.
The most obvious medium through which he does this is with his lyrics. He never goes out of his way to be clever or witty even though he’s clearly capable (the album’s title alone is a euphemism for sex), and instead goes down a more direct route with some of the most blunt, unpolished words you’re ever likely to hear on record. This is immediately evident on astounding opener 'The Modern Leper,' a searing tale of self-loathing and disgust which somehow manages to prove inspirational and uplifting in equal measure. The same can be said for 'Fast Blood,' from which point the record dives into the deepest realms of it’s writer’s despair. This all comes to a peak on the climatic 'Floating In The Forth,' where Hutchinson’s gut-wrenching honesty concerning the lures of suicide is genuinely scary.
The lyrics aren't the only masterful aspect of
The Midnight Organ Fight, though. Indeed without Hutchinson’s utterly convincing vocal performance his words would be rendered redundant, and the fact that his voice never sounds far from breaking point only serves to give his songs an added edge. The frontman may always be the center of attention, but huge credit should also be given to the band he assembled. They certainly give the record a more intelligent and sophisticated instrumental backbone than its predecessor, and prove more than capable of stepping to the forefront in songs such as 'Head Rolls Off' and 'Keep Yourself Warm.' Equally, though, they can provide the sparse tension such as that on 'My Backwards Walk' which does a fine job in countering the record’s more up tempo moments.
But if there’s one song that encapsulates what this record is all about, it’s 'Poke,' where everything is stripped back until all that remains is Hutchinson and his guitar. The silence is deafening, the intimacy spellbinding, and the colossal impact of the singers words enough to mentally transport you into his own hopeless position – even if you’re fortunate enough not to have gone through similar periods of woe. Those such as myself who have, however, will fully appreciate how effectively he captures those emotions in his practically flawless songs. In fact, for the majority of this record Scott Hutchinson really does sound like a man on his last leg, and it’s that perfect melding of love and depression which makes this, his band’s masterpiece, such a joy to behold.
