Content warning: The following dialogue includes discussions of suicide.

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Tyler: Peter, you brought today’s album to the table.  It’s Frightened Rabbit’s The Midnight Organ Fight.  How’d you come across this one?

Peter: I’m not completely sure. I think “Good Arms vs. Bad Arms” might have been on one of those sampler CDs they’d give away with Paste or Mojo. Remember those?

Tyler: Oh yeah!  I always just read those magazines at the store, principally Borders.

Borders.  Long may it live, may it rest in peace.

Peter: Loved me some Borders.

Tyler: This barista at the onetime Borders in STL’s Brentwood neighborhood, he’d gently scold me for smoking cigarettes.  He was so thoughtful about it that I usually sheepishly conceded.

Peter: Aw, that’s a nice story. Shout out to that guy.

Tyler: So Frightened Rabbit!  These cats were all new to me.

Peter: They were new to me at the time. They mean a lot to me now. This is one of my favorite records. Definitely in my top twenty or so.

I realized something in the lead-up to our chat.

Tyler: Do tell.

Peter: I pick a lot of downers. A lot of bad trips. I don’t mean quality-wise. I mean, a lot of the ones I pick are kind of sad. What’s going on there?

Tyler: I think melancholy is a sweet spot for a whole lot of us.

Peter: That sounds right.

Tyler: When I was a maudlin youth, I’d program the sadder slower songs on albums to play as I went to sleep.  I’ve always had an attraction to that set of emotions.

Peter: This is a breakup record, so it’s sad at times, but it’s also so joyful. Upon its release, Mojo called it “An uplifting record of angular alt-folk.”

Mojo should sponsor us.

Tyler: I’m certainly with them on thinking of this album as uplifting—musically, it’s jangly and earthy and just sounds good.

Peter: It really does. The production is terrific.

Tyler: Nothing’s getting in the way of anything.  Sounds crisp and clear, but not polished.

Peter: We should mention the other sad business surrounding this record. Scott Hutchison, the band’s lead singer and lyricist, committed suicide in 2018. Just a horrible loss. Devastating.

Tyler: Damn.  I was unaware of that.  Son of a bitch.

Peter: A real shame. He was, by all accounts, a really sweet guy. Beloved by seemingly everyone who knew him.

And talented, of course. A real talent. Great lyricist. He was funny, and witty, and biting.

Okay, let’s get to it. “The Modern Leper” kicks things off.

Tyler: Great opener.  It’s got a surging energy, while giving a rather accurate sense of what’s to come.

Peter: Sets up the end phase of the relationship. They’re running on fumes.

“Is that you in front of me?/Coming back for even more of exactly the same/You must be a masochist/To love a modern leper on his last leg”

Tyler: And yet it sounds damn near triumphant!

Peter: Yes! It’s anthemic!

Tyler: This performed live would definitely fill a room.  Epic sonics.

Peter: Julien Baker covered this for Tiny Changes, the tribute album they did for the tenth anniversary of this album. It’s really terrific.

Anyway, thumbs up. Great opener. Love it.

Next up is “I Feel Better.”

Tyler: A well-chosen track two.  I like how that placement underlines how Hutchison’s declaration—this is the last he’ll write of somebody—won’t hold true.

Peter: Yeah, that’s right. This song begins with a breakup. And he’s telling himself he’s moving on. He’s hoping, anyway.

“Now I’m free in parentheses,” is a great line.

Tyler: It’s another tune that doesn’t sound sad in the slightest.  They really had something going, didn’t they?

Peter: There is real joy in the music. It’s unmistakable.

Tyler: Pretty damn impressive trick, transforming this plainly-stated pain into art this vibrant.

Peter: It’s true.

But, you’re right. Declaring “This is the last song I’ll write about you,” two songs into the album was never going to hold up. There’s more pain, people!

Tyler: “Good Arms vs Bad Arms,” the next one up, really swings.  Not a bad choice, Mojo or Paste.

Peter: It’s a good tune. Sort of sounds like a single. A lot of these do though.

It would be very “radio-friendly” if he didn’t curse so much.

Tyler: The profanity is startling at first.  There’s not like loads and loads of it, but when it does pop up it’s truly unexpected.

Peter: I couldn’t play this one around my son. Lol.

Tyler: What’s more offensive: R-rated Scottish heartbreak, or Ringo the 4th?

Peter: I think he listened to Ringo? He complains about the Council Skies period. I guess I listened to that a ton.

Tyler: We went a ways between chats that time.  Plus, Council Skies is great!  Buck up, son of Peter.

Peter: I agree!

Back to “Good Arms,” he ends by saying, “I am still in love with you, can’t admit it yet.”

Relatable!

Tyler: Yeah, we’ve all been there, haven’t we.  The poor dude.  He was young!  He had time.

Peter: Yeah. He was a sensitive sort.

“Fast Blood” is next.

Tyler: It gives us the album title, amidst other imagery I figure for carnal.

Peter: It’s filthy!

Just kidding, but yes! This is about sex.

This was the second single.

Tyler: Oh yeah?  It doesn’t stand out as much as some of the others to me.

Peter: I’m not sure how you pick a single from this album.

The drums have a cool sort of stuttering beat.

The arrangements aren’t super showy or whatever but they work really well. It all sounds great.

Tyler: It’s got a nice full propulsive finale.  Man, they must’ve trounced the audience live.  These songs have drama and body.

Peter: It’s true. Wish I had seen them.

Tyler: “Old Old Fashioned,” the next track, is fun.  “1-2-3-2-2-3.”

This could’ve been a single!

Peter: Yeah, it is fun. It shows off a pleasant goofiness. There’s a lot of humour on this album. It helps to take the edge off the darker bits.

Tyler: Do they use the British spelling of “humor” in Minnesota?  Duck duck grey duck?

Peter: It was out of respect for the UK.

Tyler: I can get down with that.

Peter: This song is a bit of a respite. We can catch our breath a bit. Things get darker up ahead.

Tyler: Following the respite, then: more sex.

“The Twist” is the offending tune.

Peter: Right! This one is also fun.

“Lets pretend I’m attractive.”

Tyler: It’s almost got a dance beat.

Peter: It’s true.

“It’s the night/I can be who you like.”

I’m just gonna quote lyrics from here on out.

Tyler: Bring it.  It’s helping me highlight the words, which can be a bit difficult to make out, given Hutchison’s accent and moaning delivery.

I’m not hating on his delivery or accent, mind you.  I like both.

Peter: We need subtitles!

Tyler: Those Scots.  All bawdy and incomprehensible.

Peter: It’s true. We don’t need subtitles for the next one though. “Bright Pink Bookmark” is an instrumental.

Tyler: My wager says the title is an allusion to something mysterious.  I don’t believe this nice performance is actually about holding your place in a book.

Peter: I think you’re onto something.

It’s pretty short. It just kind of fades into the songs around it.

Tyler: Could be a side-ender/starter?  Was vinyl-oriented construction back in vogue when this was made?

Peter: Could be. It has that feel.

Next up is “Heads Roll Off.”

This was the lead single.

Tyler: It’s straightforward.  I can see why they selected it.

Peter: For sure.

“And while I’m alive, I’ll make tiny changes to earth,” is just a lovely sentiment.

Tyler: Yeah, that’s nice.

Peter: “I believe in a house in the clouds/God’s got his dead friends ’round.”

Sorry, I was joking earlier, but I keep quoting lyrics!

Tyler: If the lyrics are good, by all means, quote ‘em up.  We’re here for the people, and the people gotta know!

Peter: Power to the people!

Okay, “My Backwards Walk.”

Tyler: Minus a kind of canned-drum breakdown toward the end—don’t love that—it’s a real heartbreaker.  Power ballad a la Frightened Rabbit.

Peter: Yeah, things are getting heavy.

“And the time rewinds to the end of May/I wish we’d never met, then met today.”

Who wouldn’t love a relationship do-over?

Is that kind of the plot of Eternal Sunshine? I forget. It still doesn’t work out for them though?

Tyler: Spoiler alert!  They figure out everything that happened, realize that they’re doomed to always break up, and decide to get together anyway.

Peter: Nice. That’s nice.

“These trousers seem to love your floor,” is another good line.

Tyler: Lots of creativity in the lusty-lyric department.

Peter: It’s true. One of his sweet spots.

This song was featured in episodes of TV’s One Tree Hill, and Chuck.

Tyler: Oh my Lord Jesus, Chuck.  That’s a show I’d see ads for during football.

Peter: I think I watched one episode of it.

They couldn’t use the next one on TV!

Tyler: “Keep Yourself Warm” is the song. “It takes more than fucking someone you don’t know/To keep warm.”

Peter: Also, “You won’t find love in a hole.”

Tyler: This one’s not my favorite.  I know they’re really going for the fences with it, but I can’t get into his brazen use of “fucking” over and over.  It’s a visceral word that demands attention, but he might be overplaying the hand.

Peter: That’s fair. It works for me, but I hear what you’re saying.

Tyler: Humorously, this is the only song on this album marked “explicit” on Spotify.  Slackers!

Peter: Really? That’s hilarious.

Tyler: Does your son use Spotify?  Can you put a governor on that thing as a parent?  Serious question.

Peter: He does. I have no idea.

Now who’s the slacker?

Tyler: He could be listening to “Good Arms vs Bad Arms” as we speak!

Peter: He’s got school in the morning!

“If we’ve both got the same diseases/It’s irrelevant, girl.” More gold. I just love the lyrics.

Tyler: You always gotta wonder what the subject of a breakup album thinks if they listen to the work.  Man, this lady’s reaction to this LP must’ve been…something.

Peter: Yeah, I wonder.

Tyler: Next up is a mostly-instrumental, “Extrasupervery.”

Peter: Yeah. It’s brief.

On to “Poke.”

Genius.com calls it, “A haunting song about the last vestiges of a once passionate relationship.”

Tyler: The final ninety seconds, wordless, are rather effective.

Peter: Yeah. It really is haunting.

Tyler: Also haunting are the opening lines of the next song, “Floating In The Forth”: “So you just stepped out of the front of my house, and I’ll never see you again.”

Peter: It’s the big climax.

“I closed my eyes for a second/And when they opened you weren’t there.”

Tyler: Gets you in the gut a bit.

Peter: For sure. This song is hard. He’s talking about suicide. Wondering “Am I ready to leap/is there peace beneath/The roar of the Forth Road Bridge?”

At the time, his declaration, “I think I’ll save suicide for another day,” felt triumphant.

Tyler: Damn.  Yeah.

Peter: Anyway, the song really soars. It feels like a victory.

Tyler: It’s a breakthrough.

Peter: It is. It’s cathartic.

Tyler: A slender coda follows in “Who’d You Kill Now?,” the closing number.

Peter: Yeah. Sadly smiling. “Who’d you push down the stairs last night?/I would’ve liked to have been a part of that.”

Remembering being a duo. Making mischief.

Tyler: See, I hear that as him taking a shot at her, hurting a new guy.  He wants to be a part of either shoving him down the stairs, or being the one shoved.  That’s my read on it.  As with all interpretations, there is no correct answer, so forth.

Peter: Interesting.

Yeah, could be. I could see that.

Tyler: Well, we’ve come to the conclusion of The Midnight Organ Fight.  Perhaps it’s worthwhile to note that, if you’re struggling, the national suicide and crisis hotline is 988.  Never be afraid to call.

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