Initially released in the summer of 2006 on their own record label (Hit The Fan Records), Sing The Greys was given a limited run of 1,000 copies by Frightened Rabbit.  Those first thousand were enough to put them on the radar of many a journalist, magazine, newspaper, blog, and year-end “best of” lists.

Hailing from Selkirk, Scotland, their sound is bluntly described as Scottish Indie-Folk, comprising of (now) five members playing the standard guitars, drums, and keyboards.  What sets them apart from not only other bands they’re compared to (The Twilight Sad, We Were Promised Jetpacks, even Death Cab For Cutie and Idlewild) but from that basic pigeon-holed label I gave them above (Scottish Indie-Folk), is their passion and honesty, heard in abundance through “Sing The Grey’s”.  Opening song “The Greys” is a splendid rock song in which we’re treated to our first dose of singer Scott Hutchison’s heartfelt and quivering voice as he cries “What’s the blues when you/When you’ve got the greys?/I don’t have much of a story to say/I just sit around at night and avoid the day/If I do anything at all, it would be to get up/And avoid conversation and human contact/You can’t touch the world if you can’t even feel pain/You should come back here”.  On the second track “Music Now” the band are heard yelling “Music Now!” in a chant-like summoning to the Gods, shadowed by a kick-drum shadowing an upbeat acoustic guitar.  Scott sings along in a child-like manner, hitting every word on the same beat as the drum, switching up pace halfway through and then ending on a phone tone (a tone from a phone), before meandering into “The First Incident”, a slow and timely 1:48 instrumental, the first of three on the album.

“He yawns/She yawns as well/She yawns because she’s bored/He yawns because he can’t sleep anymore/They go out, fill their mouths with drink and food so they don’t have to speak/And in between courses they’re gasping for air, so they yawn and look at their feet”.  Scott’s bitingly honest lyrical style is evident on every song on “Sing The Greys”, with “Yawns” taking a bitter look at worn-out relationships, and “Be Less Rude” (a song they now refuse to play live) that involves clattering drums wrestling with a ringing guitar riff as Scott offers some friendly advice about someone perhaps not being such a dick as they might actually get along. After “The Second Incident”, the album’s second instrumental, we get possibly the best song on the album in “Go-Go-Girls”, a resounding jumper with static guitars that jab straight into your skull, words about drinking like it’s the end of the world, the blood of Christ, dancing girls, and street fights, and a drumstick rattle that sounds like the Alien from the Alien movies made a guest appearance on the album (although he’s not credited in the album notes).

“Behave!” is the eighth song on the album, a beautiful acoustic number under-pinned by a deep and intense bass line as Scott honestly imbues his lack of confidence in front of a certain someone.  “Square 9” is the longest track on the album and by far the most epic, the huge sound of rambunctious guitars and Animal from the Muppets on drums building until it breaks with distant cries and as he sings “It’ll be like square one, where we fell in love/Forget about square two, there was no ‘me and you’/Just like square one, where we fell in love, under the tree/Forget about square three, oh that wasn’t me/Like square one, where we fell in love/Forget about square five, I was only half-alive”, you can’t help mourn the loss of a love you didn’t even know you had. As “The Final Incident” comes and goes it leaves behind “Snake”, one of the most beautifully simple and catchy songs they’ve done, Scott singing softly over an acoustic guitar about a draught excluder that he took with him to New York to see his girlfriend.  The more you listen to “Snake” the more you can’t help but fall in love with it, and even though it’s out of place compared to the rest of the album it’s grand ending to an album that does live up to the Scottish Indie-Folk (add in Rock there, too) label it’s been given, but also gives so much more, an honest and passionate look at relationships, drinking, life, and draught excluders.

With “Sing The Greys”, Frightened Rabbit have a solid and majestic debut album, sure to garner them a legion of fans who can relate to the all manner of true-life happenings they sing about.

8/10

Worth checking out: We Were Promised Jetpacks, Neutral Milk Hotel, The Twilight Sad.

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“Listen Before You Buy – Sing The Greys”