It’s crazy to think that Frightened Rabbit’s ‘The Midnight Organ Fight’ turns 10 years old this year. Like for so many others, it quickly became one of the most important records of my life and is one I continue to return to again and again. I first saw Frightened Rabbit when Our Lost Infantry supported them at the Railway Inn in Winchester on a rainy May bank holiday weekend and then saw the band continue to grow, playing at numerous festivals including Glastonbury and Reading and two triumphant headline appearances at 2000 Trees. I shared ‘The Midnight Organ Fight’ with so many friends who all also instantly fell in love with it. We even set up a now-defunct Facebook group called ‘Do the Frightened Rabbit’, where we’d put our arms up over our heads like bunny ears and pull funny faces in front of famous locations including the Grand Canyon and the Eiffel Tower. Even Karl Kennedy got involved!
To celebrate this special record’s 10th anniversary, the band wanted to do something different to repressing the vinyl or a bog-standard re-release with ‘bonus track’ demos that were never intended for public consumption. Instead, they asked friends including Craig Finn of the Hold Steady, The Twilight Sad, Aaron Dessner (The National) and Lauren Mayberry (Chvrches) and Manchester Orchestra to contribute their own interpretations of the songs on ‘The Midnight Organ Fight’ to make up ‘Tiny Changes’. Scott Hutchison was so excited to bring it all together before he passed away last year. He listened to and approved every track and also started preparing the artwork.
The covers of ‘The Modern Leper’ contributed by Biffy Clyro and Julien Baker offer two distinct visions of this song (one of the finest openers on any album ever?). Biffy’s starts with a DIY pop charm before HUGE mathy riffs, Simon Neil’s rasping vocals and handclaps are added while Julien slows things down and surrounds her emotion-filled version with illuminating piano and reverb-drenched guitar.
‘Tiny Changes’ is released on 12 July and is available to pre-order now.
Donate to Tiny Changes – the charity set up in Scott Hutchison’s memory to raise awareness of children and young people’s mental health issues – here.
‘Tiny Changes’ tracklisting:
- The Modern Leper – Biffy Clyro
- I Feel Better – Oxford Collapse
- Good Arms vs Bad Arms – Fiskur
- Fast Blood – Right On Dynamite
- Old Old Fashioned – Josh Ritter
- The Twist – Wintersleep
- Bright Pink Bookmark – Peter Katis
- Head Rolls Off – Craig Finn
- My Backwards Walk – Katie Harkin & Sarah Silverman
- Keep Yourself Warm – Benjamin Gibbard (Death Cab for Cutie)
- Extrasupervery – Jeff Zeigler
- Poke – Daughter
- Floating In The Forth – The Twilight Sad
- Who’d You Kill Now – Aaron Dessner (The National) & Lauren Mayberry (CHVRCHES)
- The Modern Leper – Julien Baker
- The Twist – Piano Bar Fight
- My Backwards Walk – Manchester Orchestra
