Search - White Rabbits :: It's Frightening

Good, in a Surprising Way

C. Mack | 05/27/2009

(4 out of 5 stars)

"I heard White Rabbits' first LP, "Fort Nightly", a few months after it came out, it was a mostly enjoyable album for me. A good indie rock album with a few tracks that begged to be placed on mixtapes due to some excellent, memorable vocals. It had some forgettable moments, but was never bad. I was expecting new producer Britt Daniel (better known as the Spoon front man) to flesh out these memorable vocal moments even more for "It's Frightening", but he actually had the opposite effect.



"It's Frightening" starts out with a bang on "Percussion Gun." The dual-drum attack drives the song from the start and never lets up and includes the classic line: "Where do you get off, and how can I get there too?" "Rudie Fails" sounds like a less-aggressive Ted Leo rocker, including his penchant for repetition as "I don't care at all" is sung a dozen or so times to end the song, these songs make up a very nice one-two punch to open the album.



From there, the album flows along at a steady pace, always letting the music steer, never allowing the vocals to explode into an instantly memorable chorus like they did multiple times on "Fort Nightly." "The Salesman" is my personal favorite in the middle stretch of the album, followed closely by "Right Where They Left". "The Lady Vanishes" and "Leave it at the Door" provide a mellow double-outro to the album, both are enjoyable tracks but the two together do feel like an extended outro, perhaps a slightly different track ordering would have increased their individual impact.



There are two major things that have come to my attention after repeated listens to "It's Frightening." The first is that they really seem intent on not allowing the vocals, which were the true highlights of their last album, to overshadow the music. The second is that the manage to pull off this instrument-driven sound much better than I thought they would have. If you liked "Fort Nightly", there is no guarantee that you will like "It's Frightening." A better measuring stick for this one is any of The Walkmen's albums or "Girls Can Tell"-era Spoon. The band is completely focused on letting the music guide the way, whether or not that is a good decision is up for interpretation, the thing that I believe can't be denied is that they pull off this new sound remarkably well."

Wow! ****1/2

B. Niedt | Cherry Hill, NJ United States | 06/04/2009

(4 out of 5 stars)

"Damn that "Percussion Gun"! It's easily the catchiest song I've heard so far this year, and after the band's killer performance on Letterman the day before the album's release, this song has cemented itself into my brain. What a great way to open an album - with a pounding duet of tribal drumming. The whole set is propelled by standout percussion and piano, tempered with fine emotive vocals and harmony, and smart songwriting. Britt Daniel produced this, and his fingerprints are all over it, which is fine with this Spoon fan. There are definitely some similarities between the two bands; you might also be reminded a bit of Modest Mouse. Their excellent debut, "Fort Nightly", got some critical acclaim but otherwise little attention - maybe this new album will earn a better and more deserving fate. (I wonder if the title is a swipe at the similarly-named Scottish band Frightened Rabbit.) Besides the aforementioned lead track, listen to "Rudie Falls", "They Done Wrong/We Done Wrong", and "The Lady Vanishes". This is an early candidate for one of the best albums of the year."

Terrific album

Horsegal JPJ | New York, USA | 03/26/2010

(5 out of 5 stars)

"I heard Percussion Gun on pandora and thought, well this song definitely says Buy Me. All it took was the Amazon samples and Britt Daniel's name and I had to buy the whole album. Excellent decision, I love every song. White Rabbits make such spirited, interesting music that I'm wondering: Why is the perfectly decent but rather blah Vampire Weekend so damn hot while the much superior White Rabbits are not?? Their other album, Fort Nightly, is just as good as this one."