Frightened Rabbit, Alt-J
Waterloo Records, Friday, March 15Sunlight blessed and cursed the Waterloo parking lot. Sunblock proved no match for a parking lot stage enclosed by a chainlink fence, evaporating lotion perfuming the air. I’m not complaining, though, not when a band like Frightened Rabbit plays for free at an emporium for music. The Scottish quintet are vindictive lovers, keeping heart strings frayed, but it’s nothing a swift acoustic strum can’t solve. Mumford & Sons might owe them back tax. Three albums in and the wounds feel as fresh as ever. The fashionable Alt-J were up next, so the day-trippers held their breath and waited … and waited and waited, as a few keyboards were listlessly assembled onstage. The sun sizzled, and the uncommitted bailed. Once the UK quartet finally started playing, some 20 minutes late, crystallized guitar grooves from last year’s Mercury Prize-winner An Awesome Wave did their best to beat off the sunstroke. I’d rather have
This article appears in March 15 • 2013.