2000 Trees 2014: Frightened Rabbit

People are pretty excited that Selkirk’s finest exports are back to headline 2000 Trees, I’m one of them because I missed them last time around in 2011. Not because I wasn’t there but through circumstances that I can’t even remember thinking back, but I know I wasn’t anywhere near the mainstage that evening.

Since then they’ve released another album, last years’ Pedestrian Verse an album that arguably has overshadowed the success of their previous marker Midnight Organ Fight due to the commercial achievements accompanying the critical plaudits.

Being a Scottish indie band you’re going to get lumbered with (such luminaries as…) We Were Promised Jetpacks, The Twilight Sad and Twin Atlantic. But so what, they’re not bad are they? The lyrics are intricate, the music progressive with brass and strings textured within, often only noticeable on repeated listens.

They’re riding the incline a member down but gaining momentum with their last album in the top 10 in England and Scotland as well as making their presence known at the very least, with a peak of 62 in America.

There’s an unmistakable element of experimentalism in their music and live shows which is undoubtedly one of the reasons they are making the waves they have been on record and at festivals each year. To give you a perfect idea of them, you know how people go on about The National? Well, they’re essentially the American Frightened Rabbit.

Heads Roll Off (From Midnight Organ Fight)