Frightened Rabbit have announced their eagerly awaited fifth studio album, PAINTING OF A PANIC ATTACK, due for release on 8th April via Atlantic Records.
They’ve also unveiled the opening track from the record, ‘Death Dream’, an uplifting yet emotionally wrought track featuring frontman Scott Hutchison’s visceral lyrics, striking a bold sonic shift for the band. Listen to ‘Death Dream’ here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YYLZrCuhu_0
PAINTING OF A PANIC ATTACK sees a slight reshuffle in band members and the addition of The National’s Aaron Dessner on production duties. It was recorded at Dessner’s Brooklyn studio and at Dreamland Studio in Woodstock, NY in the summer of 2015. Electronic elements and Hutchison’s dark and emotionally honest lyrics are expertly woven into the band’s soaring sonic palate, resulting in a body of work that will challenge, excite and surprise longtime FR fans and new listeners alike.
Following the departure of member Gordon Skene in March 2014, the remaining four members of the band - Hutchison, his brother Grant (drums), Billy Kennedy (bass) and Andy Monaghan (guitar & keyboards) - retreated to a studio in Wales to lay the foundations of the new record. They recruited touring band member Simon Liddell (guitar/keys) as a permanent addition. The band then decamped to Dessner’s New York home and studio in Ditmas Park, Brooklyn in August 2015 to whittle down over thirty tracks for the record.
Dessner had to say about the record: “Great songwriters touch a nerve, and I think Scott really touches a nerve with these songs. To me, lyrically, this album is a step above anything he’s written before.”
PAINTING OF A PANIC ATTACK is much indebted lyrically to Los Angeles, following Scott’s move from Scotland to the States in 2014 to be with his girlfriend. Taking inspiration from what he saw, Painting is often a love/hate letter to LA. Hutchison sings of the loneliness the change instilled in him, of the disparity between the rich and the throngs of homeless in the city, and of his daily struggle with his new life and homesickness for Scotland.
Hutchison’s feeling of detachment also represents a major theme throughout the record. With the band split between Scotland and the US, the previous sense of camaraderie and strong connections whilst writing the record was lost. Despite the complications that arose from this separation, Scott feels Painting to be the band’s most representative record yet.
The band’s previous record PEDESTRIAN VERSE was released to much critical acclaim in February 2013, achieving the band’s highest ever chart placing, hitting the Top 10 in the UK charts and also seing the band play their biggest show yet, a sold-out night at London’s iconic Brixton Academy. Their previous albums SING THE GREYS, THE MIDNIGHT ORGAN FIGHT and THE WINTER OF MIXED DRINKS were released on independent label Fatcat Records.