Frightened Rabbit + Plants and Animals + The Phantom Band

It’s possible that Frightened Rabbit’s Scott Hutchison didn’t shed a tear when he exiled himself to Scotland’s secluded seaside hamlet of Crail to write the band’s recent album, The Winter of Mixed Drinks. But you have to assume he cried a little in the bathroom, surrounded by guitar picks, when you listen to it. The disc is a lonely and grand emotional bender, covering everything from being young and disgusted with your life to embracing your own madness, which happens to be the central bloodline that runs through the album. Plants and Animals’ songs exhibit the epic orchestration and climactic surging used by another Montreal band, Arcade Fire.