If you just heard a timid pop, it was the world of introvert thirty-somethings exploding (meekly). Two of the most wonderfully dejected bands around collided when Scottish sad sacks Frightened Rabbit covered Brooklyn’s bummed-out The National. The quintet chose “Fake Empire,” the lead track from 2007’s classic Boxer. Singer Scott Hutchison is a bit shaky on the words, but it’s nothing a lyric sheet can’t fix. The tune segues seamlessly into the band’s own “Backwards Walk.”
The occasion was a recent performance at San Francisco’s Rickshaw Stop. Filmed by HD cameras for Revision3, it captures seventy minutes of morose magic. Watch the video below. Note: you’ll want to jump to 47:45 to catch the cover. It’s the fourth dot from the right on the slider.
Check out more Frightened Rabbit at their website or MySpace.
Scott’s been using the Fake Empire intro to Backwards Walk on a regular basis (though evidently not in a while) since mid-2008.