Toronto – Another Wednesday night in Toronto bodes another sold-out show at the Horseshoe. And surprise, surprise, it’s another band that has seemingly burst onto the Toronto hipster scene full-throttle. I didn’t know too much about Frightened Rabbit aside from the fact that they were rootsy rocky Scots, but I did like what I heard off their latest album Midnight Organ Flight. Namely Modern Leper and Heads Roll Off. I will admit though, that it didn’t fully occur to me how much lead vocalist Scott Hutchison sounded like a yowlier version of Adam Duritz (you remember, the dreadlocked lead singer from Counting Crows who landed all those choice Friends babes back in the 90’s).

Although the PM guys would disagree with me I think the real intrigue of the evening stemmed from Brooklyn’s ambient noise trio the Antlers. Nails on the chalkboard feedback aside I see a lot of potential here – and I say this in good faith even after they gave me an exaggerated case of tinnitus. I’m listening to some of their tracks right now and with the exception of Sylvia am wondering if this is the same band. They’re showing quite a bit of range and doing a bit of research now I see they’re being represented by Kip Kouri, the same guy who promoted the now defunct Dirty on Purpose. Maybe Kip has the same weakness for Spacemen 3-laced Nu Gaze as I do. These guys have a softer, more acoustic side that wasn’t represented by their eardrum-popping set last night though.  Here’s hoping there’s some future headlining potential.

Photo courtesy of Jackman

As for Frightened Rabbit, I don’t think it was necessarily a bad show. I kind of liked a few Counting Crows songs in grade 9. Maybe you did too. There’s no shame in that although I’m going to say most of the FB fans at the show last night would probably beat you with their plaid shirts if you were to suggest as much. They have attracted an extremely loyal fanbase and who am I to say they’re undeserving? Nothing good is ever for everyone. A friend of mine has pointed out that they at least sound “sincere” — and indeed they did seem genuinely touched that they were playing in front of a capacity audience. Hutchison made reference to Torontonians’ superior taste, which predictably drove the crowd wild. I thought the band was quite good and have a sort of country-bear-jamboree-meets-grunge kinda feel. Actually that may not be even close to apt…but…I’m sleep deprived. And however you feel about Hutchison aside, it’s hard to deny he’s a clever lyricist.

Best performed song from their set: Old Old Fashioned
Worst performed song from their set: Heads Roll Off

Photo courtesy of Jackman

**This is an unrelevant aside, but it seems that a number of ladies in the audience went notably moist as soon as the lead singer started a bit of banter with the audience simply due to his Scottish accent. Until now I had no idea an accent had such power. Feel free to impart your wisdom about this phenom upon me.