NMW: RIP Scott Hutchison of Frightened Rabbit

Time to travel down the new music rabbit hole! Did’ya bring ya headphones? I’ll tell ya what’s good, what’s bad, and what’s a waste of your time. Thanks for stopping by!

The Big News

There’s some great stuff coming out this week, like new stuff from freaking Beach House (record of year contender, as usual) and Arctic Monkeys, as well as a new one from Sea and Cake and Loreena McKennit’s first record in over a decade, and Luke Winslow-King, But the news dropped today that Scott Hutchinson from Frightened Rabbit has died at 36 and that’s just about some of the worst possible news. Hutchison was one of the most affecting songwriters working today and his band, throughout it’s fifteen year existence, never released anything close to a bad record. In fact most of them were nearly perfect, essential listening. Everyone knows that The Midnight Organ Fight is a masterpiece and a cult classic, but every Frightened Rabbit record is special in it’s own way. I personally owe the guy a debt of gratitude because TMOF helped to save  my relationship with the woman who gave birth to my children and is now my wife.  The song “My Backwards Walk” helped me to see lights that I hadn’t seen for a long time, whether I was ignoring them or just blinded by the glare.

So, in tribute to Hutchinson we’re shutting down NMW for the week. No new stuff, let’s just reflect on how Hutchison and his work. We’ve done this only once before, when Dave Lamb lost his battle with leukemia in April of 2014.  Seemed important then, as it does now. Here are some of my favorite Frightened Rabbit songs. There’s a ton, but here’s a few. This really, really sucks.