Album Review: Frightened Rabbit, 'The Winter Of Mixed Drinks'

Perhaps it's something in that thick Selkirk accent, but Scott Hutchinson certainly has a knack for sounding genuinely sincere. Whilst the Scotsman might be keen to point out he's 'Not Miserable' now, some two years after the release of the emotive and critically acclaimed 'Midnight Organ Fight' he's clearly just as willing to wear his heart on his song.
These tracks are, however, largely more upbeat than the previous album, as they needed to be- and the music is all the more accessible because of it. 'Nothing Like You' is destined for repeated radio-airplay, whilst 'Swim Until You Can't See Land' is an ear worm just waiting to burrow.
That is not to say Frightened Rabbit have sold out. The album shares so much with 'Midnight Organ Fight' that at times it serves simply as a cheerier resolution to the depression of its predecessor. The relationship between 'Man/Bag Of Sand' and 'Swim Until You Can't See Land'- the former a parred and slowed down version of the latter- is identical to the one between 'Extrasupervery' and 'The Twist' on the previous album. For 'Living In Colour' see 'Old Old Fashioned'. And whilst an apparent fixation with body parts that's carried from the last album leaves 'Living In Colour' feeling a bit like the 'Funny Bones' song, there's little to criticize here- Frightened Rabbit have, almost impossibly, gone one better than their last effort. 8/10