"A salute at the threshold of the North Sea of my mind"

Is it too early to be starting to think of end-of-year favourite albums? Not when I have been thinking about this since August. Top the heap of last year’s Top Ten was Frightened Rabbit’s “The Midnight Organ Fight”. They won’t be in this year’s list at all: their new album is not due until Spring next year.

However in advance of that we have got the first single of that as-yet-untitled album to enjoy. “Swim Until You Can't See Land" is released on Fat Cat Records on 16 November but you can pre-order it now or listen/view it below. It’s good to report Frightened Rabbit have not cheered up.



OK so it's a bit cheerier than some of the bleaker moments of the last album, partly due to the rolling, chiming guitars and those string arrangements courtesy of Haushka, but the suggestion of being 'out of your depth' or even suicide by drowning is still clearly apparent. Hurrah! Self-hatred mixed with the maudlin and the downcast was a hallmark of “The Midnight Organ Fight”. B-side 'No Fun' continues this trend brilliantly - a wheezy folk lament including the statement that there is "nothing sadder than bad, bad sex". Double hurrah! I'm looking forward to that new album already.

And after what seemless like endless touring in North America last year and early this year, Frightened Rabbit will be playing in the UK in November and December. Next week on 6 November they preview songs from the new album at a ‘secret’ gig at The Lexington in London. Tickets, all 150 of them, go on sale on Monday morning. The tour then continues:
November:
Sat 7 Aldershot West End Centre
Mon 9 Oxford Academy 2
Tue10 York Duchess of York
Wed 11 Nottingham Bodega
Thu 12 Liverpool Academy 2
Sat 14 Coventry Kasbah
Sun 15 Northampton Roadmenders
Mon 16 Brighton Corn Exchange
Tue 17 Southampton University
Thu 19 Exeter Lemon Grove
Fri 20 London Troxy
Sat 21 Tunbridge Wells Forum
Sun 22 Cambridge Soul Tree
Tue 24 Sheffield Plug
Wed 25 Whitehaven Civic Hall
Fri 27 Fort William BA Club
Sat 28 Stirling Tolbooth
Sun 29 Inverness Ironworks
December:
Tue 1 Aberdeen Moshulu
Wed 2 Dundee Fat Sams
Sat 5 Galway Black Box
Mon 7 Dublin Academy (with Modest Mouse)
Tue 8 Dublin Academy (with Modest Mouse)
Wed 9 Belfast Mandella Hall (with Modest Mouse)
Sun 13 Manchester Ritz (with Modest Mouse)
Mon 14 London Shep Bush Empire (with Modest Mouse)
Tue 22 Glasgow ABC
Or you could try to win tickets to see them play on the London Eye here.

BE LESS RUDE (Daytrotter Session)
POKE (Daytrotter Session)
Frightened Rabbit [BUY or BUY]