The Midnight Organ Fight | ||||
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Studio album by | ||||
Released | 14 April 2008 | |||
Recorded | Tarquin Studios, Bridgeport, Connecticut; Diving Bell Lounge; 2 Ruskin Place; 38 White Street, Glasgow, Scotland | |||
Genre | Indie rock, indie folk | |||
Length | 48:00 | |||
Language | Scottish English | |||
Label | Fat Cat | |||
Producer | Peter Katis | |||
Frightened Rabbit chronology | ||||
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Singles from The Midnight Organ Fight | ||||
The Midnight Organ Fight is the second studio album by Scottish indie rock band Frightened Rabbit. Recorded during 2007 between studios at Bridgeport, Connecticut and Glasgow, Scotland, the album was released on 14 April 2008 (15 April in the US) through independent label Fat Cat Records. [4] Hailed by critics as "one of the finest [breakup records] of recent vintage", [5] frontman Scott Hutchison has described the album as being "a lot more intense" than its predecessor Sing the Greys (2006). [6] Following the album's completion, it took around a month for him to be able to listen to it. [7] The album's title comes from a line in the song "Fast Blood", and is said to be a euphemism for sex. [8]
Upon its release, the album was greeted with widespread critical acclaim. Praise often centered on the writing, honest lyricism, and passionate delivery of the band. Viewed as a showpiece for modern Scottish music, the album has continued to receive recognition long after its release and has been featured on various year- and decade-end critic lists.[ citation needed ]
Having originally started as a solo project of singer-guitarist-lyricist Scott Hutchison in 2003, the band went on to release Sing the Greys - effectively an album of demos - in 2006 with a run of 1,000 copies. [6] After signing to independent label Fat Cat Records in 2007 after gradually building their reputation from word of mouth, [7] the band re-recorded several parts of the album and subsequently re-released it to serve as a "taster" for new material. [6] To record The Midnight Organ Fight, the band stayed with producer Peter Katis (The National, Interpol) for a month at his home studio in Connecticut. [6] Hutchison described the sessions as "hard work", having "spent really long days recording it". [7] Despite this, he praised the work of Katis for being able to "bring a sonic muscle to the songs, and a trademark atmosphere that is entirely his own. He kind of pulled us out of the indie rock basement into a more luscious soundscape. He has a great pop sensibility". [8]
Speaking of his writing for the album, Hutchison explained that, "it’s usually the music first, and I hum and sing syllables to feel out the rhythm and melody, then I finally write the words. Most songs just arrive the way they do by accident, and its certainly not particularly contrived. It’s very important to move the listener and I feel that is music's main goal: to make another human feel something." [8] When asked about his guitar work on the record, the frontman said that, "I really love the challenge of 22 frets, 6 strings and seeing what I could do with that. As opposed to stepping on a pedal to change the music, you know, there's such a wide range of sounds that you can get from a guitar and it's fun to get different ones every time you pick it up". [7] Lyrically, Hutchison stated that "most of the lyrics are pretty direct" and that the album "almost spells out what’s happened". [6] Regarding the personal nature of the lyrics, Scott states that he couldn't "really write about anything else, and I can still visualise the events in each song, which perhaps makes the delivery more genuine". [8] The artwork for the album was also done solely by Hutchison, having spent four years at Art School; "I didn't particularly want to be an illustrator so I wanted to apply the rules that I learnt to everything I do, in terms of working in a bank or writing music". [7]
Aggregate scores | |
---|---|
Source | Rating |
Metacritic | 80/100 [9] |
Review scores | |
Source | Rating |
AllMusic | [10] |
The A.V. Club | A− [11] |
Drowned in Sound | 9/10 [12] |
The Fly | [13] |
The Irish Times | [14] |
Mojo | [15] |
Pitchfork | 8.1/10 [16] |
Q | [17] |
Spin | [18] |
Uncut | [19] |
The Midnight Organ Fight was met with widespread critical acclaim upon its release. Sampling sixteen reviews, the review aggregator website Metacritic awarded the album a weighted average of 80%. [9]
Josh Model of The A.V. Club awarded the album an "A−" grade and particularly praised the honesty throughout the record; "it's Hutchison's utterly believable desperation and frank lyrics that push the whole thing from good to great. It doesn't make for easy listening, but nothing this flatly honest and powerful ever is". [11] Travis Parno of AbsolutePunk, scored the album at 86% and summarised the sound on the album as "bleak, wandering, and wanton. Somehow, though, the music remains strangely approachable, and damn near uplifting". [20] Drowned in Sound writer Jordan Dowling, rated the album at nine out of ten and praised the simplicity found in the song structures, while stating the band had "shaven off the instrumental passages that snaked through their first release and created 14 blissfully simple pop songs". [12] Mischa Pearlman, writing for The Fly awarded a near-perfect score of 4.5/5. He opined that, "it's a tremulous, trembling effort of stripped down guitars, shot nerves, existential crisis and a sad, twisted heart. Terrific". [13] Review website IGN awarded the album 9.8/10 and lauded the effort as a "modern classic". Writer Chad Grischow comments that The Midnight Organ Fight "triumphantly feeds your heart, soul, feet, and mind all at once, and will become an instant favorite with just one listen. Frightened Rabbit is one of those rare bands that may have perfected their sound on their sophomore effort". The album also received a special Editors Choice award. [21] Writing for Lost at Sea magazine, Jon Burke awarded a score of 9.5/10 and noted, "there is honesty in these songs that cannot be found on most of the pretentious pap getting heralded as 'the next big thing.' Whether or not you choose to accept it, the FACT is that Scotland's own Hutchinson brothers have created a sweet and powerful collection of tunes with The Midnight Organ Fight". [22]
Mojo magazine gave the album four stars out of five and opined, "What might sound like a depressing work of angsty indulgence is in fact an uplifting record of angular alt-folk", [15] while sister-publication, Q magazine, who similarly awarded four stars, noted "Midnight Organ Fight more than delivers on its promise: tons of spiky energy, proper tunes and a real lyrical bite to the likes of The Modern Leper". [17] Rebecca Raber of Pitchfork Media scored the album at 8.1 and remarked, "despite the fact that their methods are well-worn, their product is one-of-a-kind, as their consistently great second album attests. Midnight Organ Flight [sic] is full of rousing barnburners that flicker with soul, ballads that ache with masculine vulnerability, and Frightened Rabbit's best song yet, opener "The Modern Leper"". [16] NME echoed this sentiment by stating that the album is "bleak...also utterly beautiful, scathingly honest, darkly hilarious and impossibly grandiose". [23] Scottish magazine, The Skinny described the album as one "that invokes a range of emotions but generally leaves you exhilarated; enough, in Frightened Rabbit's unique idiom, to make the fast blood hurricane through you". [24] Adam Knott of Sputnikmusic scored the album at 4.5/5 and summarised that the band, "succeed in mixing indie rock and traces of folk into 48 minutes of driven and emotional melodies that lift you up, beat you down and eventually bring closure. It's thoughtful but not self-involved, accessible but by no means generic, and brilliantly energetic but not without its more tender moments". [25]
As well as widespread praise from the press, several fellow musicians also held the album in high regard. Death Cab for Cutie bassist Nick Harmer cites that the album is his favourite 2008 release, stating: "It's lyrically perfect with words that hit you right in the heart. And coupled with Scott Hutchison's vocals, the whole thing just kills me". [26] The band would later go on to support Death Cab for Cutie on their November UK tour. Biffy Clyro frontman Simon Neil stated in an October 2008 interview that "The Modern Leper" was his favourite song of the year, and Frightened Rabbit were soon announced as the main support during their December tour: "We're incredibly excited to tell you that we'll be joined in London, Birmingham, Manchester and Glasgow, by the quite brilliant Frightened Rabbit, whose album The Midnight Organ Fight is one of the best albums of this year. Utterly fantastic. Check it out. Now". [27] Fightstar vocalist and guitarist Charlie Simpson claimed the band "are by far the best thing I have heard for about as long as I can remember" and heaped praise on the album by adding "it's simply crammed to the brim with beautiful melodies and lyrics so poignant, they keep you thinking about what has been said long after the songs have stopped playing. There must be something in the water up in Scotland because this has got to be one of the best records I have heard since Aereogramme's debut release". [28] Jim Adkins of Jimmy Eat World posted a blog on the band's official MySpace citing that: "[The Midnight Organ Fight] was my favorite album of the year. Such a great combination of writing and delivery. One of the best live acts I got to see this year as well. I am really excited to see what 2009 brings for these guys". [29]
"On the face of it, their product is hardly revolutionary. Yet, for the past year and a half, The Midnight Organ Fight by Frightened Rabbit has been the album that simply keeps on giving. Potty-mouthed songwriter Scott Hutchison's dog-on-heat tales of drunken love and lust could, in less capable hands, have manifested themselves as self-indulgent lad rock. But the awesome visceral force that ensured these songs came to fruition helps make them some of the best of the decade". [30]
—Finbarr Bermingham of The Skinny in 2009, on the record's replayability.
The Midnight Organ Fight found itself in several "must have" lists that were compiled by various music publications, networks, and other media in the years following its release.[ citation needed ] Bill Cummings of God Is in the TV opined that the band had managed to, "step up to embrace a more luscious sound showcasing their unique ability (unlike many bands) to make personal experience connect on an almost anthemic, universal level. Scott’s songs convey candid tales of ordinary folk with a wry, acerbic wit via an eloquent, emotive, modern garage-pop aesthetic". [8] Drowned in Sound ranked the album at number two in their "Best Albums of 2008" list with Alexander Tudor writing, "Fact: Casual Listeners will buy what they’re told, if it’s got tunes and a catchphrase, which means the airwaves are always polluted with inanities, and we assume the norm is natural. But Word-of-Mouth means something, it means you're kept listening, maybe it means you loved that album, you felt like it was yours, and the votes you chose to send-in tell us the Not-So-Casual listener does care for the words s/he listens to; in this case, an album about breaking-up and f*cking-up, with the grisliest imagery since Arab Strap, and a moral complexity eclipsing Belle & Sebastian". [31] It ranked at number twenty seven on The Fly's end-of-year album list, with Stephen Brolan stating, "The Midnight Organ Fight may be a bitter, bitter account of relationships ending, but it is also one of the year's most sheerly loveable and entertaining albums. Pop brilliance and emotional turmoil perfectly synthesised." [32] The Midnight Organ Fight also appeared in NME s end-of year list at number thirty six, [33] as well as being included in their "Greatest Albums of the Decade" article. In the latter, Barry Nicholson opined, "It’s a dark tunnel, but this record is worth it". [34] Finbarr Bermingham of The Skinny named the album as the fourth best in Scotland between 2000-2009. He noted, "Trying to pick an album highlight has been an exercise in futility. Over the course of 18 months, any one of ten tracks has suggested itself as a contender. The song-writing here is accumulative: borrowing from a range of styles to create a near perfect whole; a flawless indie-pop record". [30] American magazine Treble , while including the album in their "Best Albums of the 00s" list, said that the band, "blew the doors wide open with the epic, emotionally charged, The Midnight Organ Fight. If there's an album from 2008 with more fantastic melodies, I certainly haven't heard it. To paraphrase their own lyrics, they're much better than ever." [35] The album also received end-of-year inclusions from various other media including Alternative Ulster ,[ citation needed ] The A.V. Club , [36] Magnet , [37] Lost at Sea, [38] Pitchfork Media, [39] and The Village Voice . [40]
Publication | Country | Nominated work | Accolade | Year | Rank |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Alternative Ulster | United Kingdom | The Midnight Organ Fight | Top Albums of the Year[ citation needed ] | 2008 | 3 |
Drowned in Sound | Top Fifty Albums of the Year [31] | 2 | |||
The Fly | Albums of '08 [32] | 27 | |||
NME | Top Fifty Albums of the Year [33] | 36 | |||
Top 100 Greatest Albums of the Decade [34] | 2009 | 89 | |||
The Skinny | Top Ten Albums of the Year [41] | 2008 | 1 | ||
Scottish Albums of the Decade [30] | 2009 | 4 | |||
The A.V. Club | United States | Best Music of the Year [36] | 2008 | 20 | |
Lost at Sea | Year End Report: Staff Composite Top 20 [38] | 20 | |||
Magnet | Top Albums of the Year [37] | 7 | |||
Pitchfork Media | Fifty Best Albums of the Year [39] | 33 | |||
"The Modern Leper" | The 100 Best Tracks of 2008 [42] | 78 | |||
Treble | The Midnight Organ Fight | The Best Albums of the '00s [35] | 2010 | 147 | |
The Village Voice | Pazz & Jop [40] | 2008 | 34 | ||
All lyrics written by Scott Hutchison; music composed by Frightened Rabbit, except where noted. [43]
No. | Title | Length |
---|---|---|
1. | "The Modern Leper" | 3:48 |
2. | "I Feel Better" | 2:51 |
3. | "Good Arms vs. Bad Arms" | 5:07 |
4. | "Fast Blood" | 3:47 |
5. | "Old Old Fashioned" | 3:43 |
6. | "The Twist" | 3:31 |
7. | "Bright Pink Bookmark" | 1:13 |
8. | "Head Rolls Off" | 3:44 |
9. | "My Backwards Walk" | 3:30 |
10. | "Keep Yourself Warm" | 5:33 |
11. | "Extrasupervery" | 1:18 |
12. | "Poke" | 4:36 |
13. | "Floating in the Forth" | 4:14 |
14. | "Who'd You Kill Now?" | 1:05 |
Total length: | 48:00 |
No. | Title | Writer(s) | Length |
---|---|---|---|
15. | "Don't" | 3:34 | |
16. | "Set You Free" (N-Trance cover) | Kevin O'Toole, Dale Longworth | 3:37 |
17. | "Soon Go" | 4:27 | |
Total length: | 11:38 |
The following personnel contributed to The Midnight Organ Fight: [43]
To mark the 10th anniversary of The Midnight Organ Fight, the band decided to approach musician friends and touring mates in order to record covers of the entire album. The covers album was planned for release in Summer 2018, but the project was delayed following the death of Scott Hutchison, and came out in July 2019 with the title Tiny Changes: A Celebration of Frightened Rabbit’s ‘The Midnight Organ Fight’. The tracks have all been recorded before Hutchison's passing and were approved by him; he had also worked on the album's cover art. The album features liner notes from the remaining members of Frightened Rabbit as well as the participating artists. [44]
Speaking about the release, Grant Hutchison noted: "That album did a lot for us personally, it did a lot for us as a band, it did a lot for people who heard it 10 years ago and a lot for people since... Everyone on [the compilation] has played a part in our personal life and our careers. We're telling a story of an album, and the best way to do that is to have the people who have shared it with you over the years tell their side almost, you know? Their interpretation of that album, it's as important. When you release an album, it's not yours anymore. Once it's out there, it belongs to everyone else. This was a nice way to hear what the people we toured with, our peers, what it meant to them". [45]
In August 2020, Biffy Clyro released a Record Store Day 7" entitled Moderns, which included their versions of "The Modern Leper" and David Bowie's "Modern Love", with proceeds going to the mental health charity Tiny Changes. [46]
Biffy Clyro are a Scottish rock band that formed in Kilmarnock, East Ayrshire, composed of Simon Neil and twin brothers James and Ben Johnston. Currently signed to 14th Floor Records, they have released nine studio albums, and following their first three albums, the band expanded their following significantly in 2007 with the release of their fourth album Puzzle, which peaked at No. 2 on the UK Albums Chart and was awarded a Platinum certification by the BPI.
The Twilight Sad are a Scottish post-punk/indie rock band, comprising James Graham (vocals), Andy MacFarlane (guitar), Johnny Docherty (bass), Brendan Smith (keyboards) and Grant Hutchison (drums). They have released five studio albums, as well as several EPs, live recordings and singles. Their 2007 debut album, Fourteen Autumns & Fifteen Winters, drew widespread acclaim from critics, who noted Graham's thick Scottish accent and MacFarlane's dense sonic walls of shoegazing guitar and wheezing accordion. The Twilight Sad's notoriously loud live performances have been described as "completely ear-splitting", and the band toured for the album across Europe and the United States throughout 2007 and 2008. Sessions inspired by stripped-down and reworked live performances yielded the 2008 mini-album, Here, It Never Snowed. Afterwards It Did.
Frightened Rabbit were a Scottish indie rock band from Selkirk, formed in 2003. Initially a solo project for vocalist and guitarist Scott Hutchison, the final lineup of the band consisted of Hutchison, his brother Grant (drums), Billy Kennedy, Andy Monaghan, and Simon Liddell (guitar). From 2004, the band were based in Glasgow.
Sing the Greys is the debut studio album by Scottish indie rock band Frightened Rabbit, originally released in May 2006 on Hits the Fan Records, with a limited run of 1000 copies. A remixed/remastered version was released in the United States by FatCat Records on 2 October 2007 and in the UK on 17 November 2007.
Quietly Now! is a live album by Scottish indie rock band Frightened Rabbit, released on 21 October 2008 in the US and on 30 March 2009 in the UK and Europe. The album is a "primarily acoustic" performance of the band's acclaimed second album, The Midnight Organ Fight, recorded live at The Captain's Rest in Glasgow on 30 July 2008.
We Were Promised Jetpacks are a Scottish indie rock band originally from Edinburgh, formed in 2003. The band consists of Adam Thompson, Sean Smith (bass) and Darren Lackie (drums). Stuart McGachan was a member of the band from 2012 to 2015. On 2 July 2019, founding member Michael Palmer (guitar) announced that he was leaving the band.
Only Revolutions is the fifth studio album by Scottish alternative rock band Biffy Clyro, released 9 November 2009 on 14th Floor Records. As with its predecessor, Puzzle, the album was produced by Garth Richardson. Upon release, Only Revolutions was a critical and commercial success. The album entered at No. 8 on the UK Album Chart and was then certified gold by the BPI shortly afterwards. It was certified platinum by the BPI in June 2010 for shipments of 300,000 copies in the UK, making it the band's largest selling album. In September 2010, the album achieved a new peak position of No. 3. It was the 26th biggest selling album of 2010 in the UK with sales of 377,900. It was nominated for the 2010 Mercury Prize, which is awarded annually for the best album in the UK or Ireland, and Rock Sound declared it third in its list of the 75 best albums of 2009.
"The Captain" is the third single from Biffy Clyro's fifth studio album, Only Revolutions, released on 26 October 2009. It features a prominent brass section throughout the song. The music video was released on 23 September on NME.com. The B-side "Help Me Be Captain" is an early, more raw sounding, version of the song without brass instruments.
The Winter of Mixed Drinks is the third studio album by Scottish indie rock band Frightened Rabbit, released on 1 March 2010 through independent label FatCat Records. As with its predecessor, the critically acclaimed The Midnight Organ Fight (2008), the album was recorded and produced by Peter Katis. Vocalist, guitarist and songwriter Scott Hutchison states that The Winter of Mixed Drinks is "more of a storytelling record" than the band's previous two albums, and notes that the album is "about an escape and maybe even a slight breakdown. I have to say, it's semi-fictional. There's a protagonist who is possibly male but it doesn't really describe my life because if I did that it wouldn't make for an interesting album this time around as I’ve been quite solid and content, thankfully."
Peter Katis is an American Grammy Award-winning record producer, audio engineer, mixer, and musician.
Opposites is the sixth studio album by Scottish alternative rock band Biffy Clyro, which was released on 28 January 2013. A double album, Opposites was originally announced as a pair of albums, The Land at the End of Our Toes and The Sand at the Core of Our Bones, which later became the names of the individual discs of the album. The album features 20 songs across two discs. There is also a single disc version with 14 selected tracks. As of July 2016, the album has sold 260,720 copies in the UK.
State Hospital is an EP by Scottish indie rock band Frightened Rabbit, released on 24 September 2012 on Atlantic Records. Produced by both Leo Abrahams and the band itself, the EP includes the single, "State Hospital", alongside four tracks written and recorded in contention for the band's fourth studio album, Pedestrian Verse.
Pedestrian Verse is the fourth studio album by the Scottish indie rock band Frightened Rabbit, released on 4 February 2013 on Atlantic Records. Produced by Leo Abrahams and the band itself, it is the only studio album to feature guitarist and keyboardist Gordon Skene, who departed from Frightened Rabbit following the album's accompanying tour.
Scott John Hutchison was a Scottish singer, songwriter, guitarist and artist. He was the founding member and primary songwriter of the indie rock band Frightened Rabbit, with whom he recorded five studio albums, and created the artwork for each release.
Grant Hutchison is a Scottish drummer and percussionist. He is best known as the drummer of the indie rock band Frightened Rabbit, with whom he recorded five studio albums. In 2022, Hutchison joined The Twilight Sad after a four-year hiatus from performing, following the death of his brother and bandmate, Scott Hutchison.
Owl John is the only album by Owl John, the solo musical project by Frightened Rabbit vocalist and guitarist Scott Hutchison. It was released on Atlantic Records on 4 August 2014.
Painting of a Panic Attack is the fifth and final studio album by Scottish indie rock band Frightened Rabbit. The album was released on 8 April 2016, through Atlantic Records. It is the band's only studio album to feature guitarist and keyboardist Simon Liddell, a touring member who joined them in a permanent capacity after the departure of Gordon Skene. After frontman and founding member Scott Hutchison's disappearance and subsequent death in 2018, the remaining members retired the Frightened Rabbit name, leaving Painting of a Panic Attack as their final album.
Ellipsis is the seventh studio album by Scottish alternative rock band Biffy Clyro. It was produced by Rich Costey and released on 8 July 2016. Ellipsis entered the UK charts at number one, making it Biffy Clyro's second number one album, after 2013's Opposites.
Mastersystem were a British rock supergroup composed of two sets of brothers, who were members of the groups Frightened Rabbit, Editors and Minor Victories. They released their debut and only album, Dance Music, on 6 April 2018, to critical acclaim. The band began a UK tour supporting the album that same month, but further summer dates and a plan for a wider tour later in the year were halted after the passing of Hutchison a month later.
The Myth of the Happily Ever After is the ninth studio album by Scottish rock band Biffy Clyro, released on 22 October 2021 through 14th Floor and Warner Records. It is said to be the 'sister album' to their 2020 album A Celebration of Endings. It entered the UK album chart at number 4.
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