At Drowned in Sound we think that the humble EP is neglected nowadays. Which is a shame. We're also fans of Frightened Rabbit, so we're going to combine these two concepts (of EPs and Frightened Rabbit) in one article. The band recently supported Death Cab For Cutie on their US tour and sold the limited-edition A Frightened Rabbit EP.
They're now making it available as a free download and limited edition 10" vinyl, which goes on sale on October 31. We've got the whole thing to stream, exclusively, from start to finish. Do so in the SoundCloud player below. Nice artwork, eh?
We've also got a track-by-track by Scott from the band. Read it to gain some insight.
'Scottish Winds': Funnily enough, this was pretty much all written on a bus. The X95 to be precise. I was on my way back to our cottage in the Borders, the place we were using to write and record at the time. I think the initial nugget came from the fact that it was an extremely windy day. It's the first song I've formed entirely in my head, as I didn't have an instrument to hand and would never start strumming one out on a bus, so to speak. So I wrote the lyrics out on my phone and when I got to the cottage I picked up a guitar and it was just sort of...there.
'Fuck This Place': This is going to sound like total bullshit, but please don't exhale a 'pfft' and stop reading when I say, this song started off as a dream. I honestly dreamt that i did a duet with a mystery female vocal on it and the 'I don't know these buildings' line was definitely in that dream. So when it came to the writing, I had two parts in my head all along. I have been a big Camera Obscura fan for a long time and when Tracyanne said she'd be up for this, I was incredibly chuffed and her vocal is just beautiful. It's fairly obvious what it's about, though I don't think it's necessarily a love story. Sometimes you just need looking after, and everyone can feel like a lost wee boy/girl from time to time, especially when you spend your life on tour.
'The Work': This was another one written on a bus, this time the number 62 to Peebles. Again, it was a duet from the start. I have been thinking a lot about ageing and death, especially on our new songs. So two distinct characters emerged fairly quickly. There's me being the belligerent young upstart asking 'what's the point in getting old?', then there's Archie as the counterpoint, convincing me that it ain't all bad.
It was such an honour to work with Archie. He's a real Scottish legend, and my mum and dad couldn't believe I was singing with one of their heroes. When I listen to this one, I think of the great day I spent at his house, mulling over the tune and listening to all his hilarious stories. A real privilege.