Owl John - Owl John

Owl John

Owl John

4 August 2014

Atlantic

4 stars out of 5

Owl John is the debut solo LP by Frightened Rabbit front man Scott Hutchinson. The album is the result of the Scottish singer/guitarist's creative fatigue after touring in support of 2013's Pedestrian Verse. The label told him to take a break and make a solo record on their dime, so he did. Musically, Owl John is a bit looser and less restricted than the more conventional songs of Hutchinson's full-time gig, though still firmly planted in the fertile soil of Frightened Rabbit's folk-rock tradition.

At times sounding like early Decemberists (“Los Angeles, Be Kind”), at other times pursuing a folk-electro-prog hybrid (“Ten Tons of Silence”), Hutchinson expands his creative range in multiple directions over the course of Owl John. “Hate Music” is a blues tune filtered through a gospel choir, with a vibe appropriate to U2's late '80s period. “Red Hand” is a menacing and stylistic rocker, while “Don't Take Off the Gloves” is a mid-'80s New Wave art piece somewhere between XTC and Tears for Fears. Hutchinson explores many different genres and styles over the record, but everything is unified through his distinctive, emotive voice and the sorrowful tone of his lyrics and melodies.

A very solid solo debut, Owl John should serve to reinvigorate Frightened Rabbit's songwriting process as well as establish Hutchinson as a strong solo act in his own right. Well worth suffering through the bizarre ancient Sumerian-esque cover art.

reviewed by Richard Krueger