Such honesty is hard to hear, and Hutchison came to epitomise a new form of masculinity where real strength is found in the bravery and courage it takes to share your vulnerability. Hutchison was just doing as he had always done: battling his demons in the only way he knew how, and, in doing so, rescuing countless others along the way. But you cannot fake a faceless pain that darkens your door. Such is the emotional heft he was willing to throw into these songs that some, at the time of its release, questioned Hutchison’s legitimacy. In fact, despite sometimes being told from the outside looking in, Painting Of A Panic Attack contains some of his most lacerating verses. This evolution is encapsulated on the Jekyll and Hyde nature of Lump Street, which looms with a dystopian dread for its first half before exploding in a cloudburst of guitars that transports listeners back to winters of mixed drinks.ĭespite the scrutiny it was subjected to, the deftness of Dessner’s touch, and any perceived polishing of the band’s sound had no effect on the armour piercing nature of Hutchison’s lyrics. But not unlike The National, their progression was incremental – adding extensions to their house instead of selling up and starting over elsewhere. The womp womp of horns on Little Drum, the unsettling ambience of Death Dream, and even the pop-rock flashes of Break – perhaps a nod to the joyful cacophony of friends, Oxford Collapse – were all new avenues that showed the band’s desire for change. The songs present themselves as having been planted and nurtured like clustered flower beds that bloom into a meadow you can wade through knee-deep a new experience to greet you at every passing glance. However, while he tempered the sprawl of the band’s previous opus, Pedestrian Verse, and sanded smooth the scratchy rawness of their breakthrough, The Midnight Organ Fight – which many fans still believe to be the perfect accompaniment to Scott Hutchison’s soul bared lyrics – you cannot help but think that Painting Of A Panic Attack is the closest the group ever got to the version of themselves that they heard in their heads. But as devout fans of The National and Dessner’s production work, as well as being former touring buddies, the chance to record with Dessner was a fulfilment of a long-held dream.ĭessner’s influence is knowingly understated, yet, immediate, and was something latched on to by critics at the time. With frontman, Scott Hutchison, in LA and dealing with the isolation and alienation of being a stranger in a new town with only the relationship with his partner to cling to, and the rest of the group back in Glasgow, the record’s creation was an adjustment for the band.
#Lyrics frightened rabbit death dream series
In 2015, Frightened Rabbit – following a series of at times fraught internal trans-Atlantic writing sessions – met with Aaron Dessner to record what would become thief fifth and final record, Painting Of A Panic Attack.
The final act of a play of biblical proportions, Painting Of A Panic Attack found Frightened Rabbit teetering on the perfect version of themselves, as Scott Hutchison proved that real bravery is found in sharing our vulnerabilities