Don’t Get Sentimental

After a brief hiatus, I return with another post on, wait for it, wait for it…indie folk!  Informal surveying has revealed that our immense readership (read: a half dozen friends) respond well to both Marcelo’s vast knowledge of obscure hip hop and Nick’s two (2) un-music-related but funny posts.  I’m not sure anyone responds favorably to, or even reads my posts about sad, guitar plucking indie artists, but I’m writing what I know, so pull up a chair, put on your headphones, and put away the hip hop for 5 minutes.

Frightened Rabbit is a Scottish group who released their second LP, The Midnight Organ Flight, in April.  It’s one of those sleeper albums that crept up on me, where I was half paying attention one night and thought, “Who the hell is this group with the strange voice?”  Because that is the most immediately distinctive attribute: lead singer Scott Hutchison’s voice, which sounded more American-country than Scottish to me at first listen.

Their acoustic songs evoke something of an old-timey, Irish jig atmosphere (think the below deck revelry of the poor folks in Titanic.  Minus Leo).  There are several slow burners, but most of the songs build to thumping, dance-worthy beats and you can’t help but sing along, emulating the unique spin Hutchison puts on these familiar words.  Kick back by the fire and enjoy.

Frightened Rabbit - Old Old Fashioned

Frightened Rabbit - The Modern Leper

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A couple weeks ago I wrote about the talented-beyond-her-years Laura Marling (above, right), but I probably should have written this post first.  Before Marling struck off on her own solo career, she sang back-up vocals for Noah and the Whale, a UK group that falls under the same nebulous Anti-Folk genre as Marling herself.

I found out about them after Marling, and initially only gave them a couple listens, then moved on.  Over the past week, however, I sat down and listened to their new album Peaceful The World Lays Me Down, and it’s really growing on me.  Their sound is equal parts easy-going folk and well-crafted pop, with songs that make you feel bubbly and happy without drenching you in saccharine.

Interesting fact from Wikipedia that lacks citation:

Apparently Noah and the Whale’s “name is a marriage of the title of one of the band’s favorite films, “The Squid and the Whale,” and the name of the director (Noah Baumbach).”  Sounds believable enough.  Thanks, Wikipedia!

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Noah and the Whale - 5 Years Time

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