The Midnight Organ Fight
Encyclopedia
Critical response
The Midnight Organ Fight was met with widespread critical acclaim upon its release. Sampling sixteen reviews, the review aggregatorReview aggregator
A review aggregator is a system that collects reviews of products and services . This system stores the reviews and then uses them for purposes such as: creating a website for users to view the reviews, selling information to third parties about consumer tendencies and creating databases for...
website Metacritic
Metacritic
Metacritic.com is a website that collates reviews of music albums, games, movies, TV shows and DVDs. For each product, a numerical score from each review is obtained and the total is averaged. An excerpt of each review is provided along with a hyperlink to the source. Three colour codes of Green,...
awarded the album a weighted average
Weighted mean
The weighted mean is similar to an arithmetic mean , where instead of each of the data points contributing equally to the final average, some data points contribute more than others...
of 80%, as well as a 9.3/10 rating based on 38 user votes.
Josh Model of The A.V Club awarded the album an "A-" grade and particularly praised the honesty throughout the record; "it's Hutchison's utterly believable desperation and frank lyrics that push the whole thing from good to great. It doesn't make for easy listening, but nothing this flatly honest and powerful ever is". Travis Parno of AbsolutePunk, scored the album at 86% and summarised the sound on the album as "bleak, wandering, and wanton. Somehow, though, the music remains strangely approachable, and damn near uplifting". Drowned In Sound
Drowned in Sound
DrownedinSound.com or DiS is a UK based music webzine financed by artist management company Silentway . The site is an editorially independent music website.-History:...
writer Jordan Dowling, rated the album at nine out of ten and praised the simplicity found in the song structures, while stating the band had "shaven off the instrumental passages that snaked through their first release and created 14 blissfully simple pop songs". Mischa Pearlman, writing for The Fly
The Fly (magazine)
The Fly is a free music magazine published monthly in the United Kingdom. The magazine is published by the HMV owned MAMA Group.The magazine started as a listings leaflet in Camden, north London, for the Barfly music venue on Chalk Farm Road...
awarded a near-perfect score of 4.5/5. She opined that, "it's a tremulous, trembling effort of stripped down guitars, shot nerves, existential crisis and a sad, twisted heart. Terrific." Review website, IGN
IGN
IGN is an entertainment website that focuses on video games, films, music and other media. IGN's main website comprises several specialty sites or "channels", each occupying a subdomain and covering a specific area of entertainment...
awarded the album 9.8/10 and lauded the effort as a "modern classic". Writer, Chad Grischow, comments that The Midnight Organ Fight "triumphantly feeds your heart, soul, feet, and mind all at once, and will become an instant favorite with just one listen. Frightened Rabbit is one of those rare bands that may have perfected their sound on their sophomore effort". The album also received a special Editors Choice award. Writing for Lost at Sea
LAS Magazine
LAS Magazine, also known as Lost At Sea or LostAtSea.net, is a daily online magazine founded in 1998 by Eric J Herboth. An online social group for the magazine list it in the "Entertainment & Arts - Online Media" category with a description of "Art. Bike. Music. Media. Literature. Photography....
magazine, Jon Burke awarded a score of 9.5/10 and noted, "there is honesty in these songs that cannot be found on most of the pretentious pap getting heralded as "the next big thing." Whether or not you choose to accept it, the FACT is that Scotland's own Hutchinson brothers have created a sweet and powerful collection of tunes with The Midnight Organ Fight."
Mojo
Mojo (magazine)
MOJO is a popular music magazine published initially by Emap, and since January 2008 by Bauer, monthly in the United Kingdom. Following the success of the magazine Q, publishers Emap were looking for a title which would cater for the burgeoning interest in classic rock music...
magazine gave the album four stars out of five and opined, "What might sound like a depressing work of angsty indulgence is in fact an uplifting record of angular alt-folk", while sister-publication, Q magazine, who similarly awarded four stars, noted "Midnight Organ Fight more than delivers on its promise: tons of spiky energy, proper tunes and a real lyrical bite to the likes of The Modern Leper." Rebecca Raber of Pitchfork Media
Pitchfork Media
Pitchfork Media, usually known simply as Pitchfork or P4k, is a Chicago-based daily Internet publication established in 1995 that is devoted to music criticism and commentary, music news, and artist interviews. Its focus is on underground and independent music, especially indie rock...
, scored the album at 8.1 and remarked, "despite the fact that their methods are well-worn, their product is one-of-a-kind, as their consistently great second album attests. Scott's songs imbue the band with an elastic identity. Scuzzed up tracks like "Fast Blood" and almost-bluegrass weepers like "Good Arms Vs. Bad Arms" prove that Frightened Rabbit have stretched beyond the melancholic folk-pop of Sing the Greys. But elsewhere - most notably "My Backwards Walk" and "Old Old Fashioned" - they re-confirm their dedication to the sound they perfected on their debut, playing electronic and acoustic guitars against each other for stomping mid-tempo gems that pulse with nervous energy and heart-on-sleeve lyrics." NME
NME
The New Musical Express is a popular music publication in the United Kingdom, published weekly since March 1952. It started as a music newspaper, and gradually moved toward a magazine format during the 1980s, changing from newsprint in 1998. It was the first British paper to include a singles...
echoed this sentiment by stating that the album is "bleak...also utterly beautiful, scathingly honest, darkly hilarious and impossibly grandoise". Scottish magazine, The Skinny described the album as one "that invokes a range of emotions but generally leaves you exhilarated; enough, in Frightened Rabbit's unique idiom, to make the fast blood hurricane through you". Adam Knott of Sputnikmusic
Sputnikmusic
Sputnikmusic, or simply Sputnik, is a music website offering music criticism and music news alongside features commonly associated with wiki-style websites...
scorded the album at 4.5/5 and summarised that the band, "succeed in mixing indie rock and traces of folk into 48 minutes of driven and emotional melodies that lift you up, beat you down and eventually bring closure. It's thoughtful but not self-involved, accessible but by no means generic, and brilliantly energetic but not without its more tender moments".
Musicians
As well as widespread praise from the press, several fellow musicianMusician
A musician is an artist who plays a musical instrument. It may or may not be the person's profession. Musicians can be classified by their roles in performing music and writing music.Also....* A person who makes music a profession....
s also held the album in high regard. Death Cab for Cutie
Death Cab for Cutie
Death Cab for Cutie is an American alternative rock band formed in Bellingham, Washington in 1997. The band consists of Ben Gibbard , Chris Walla , Nick Harmer and Jason McGerr ....
bassist Nick Harmer
Nick Harmer
Nicholas Harmer is the bass guitarist for the group Death Cab for Cutie.-Personal life:Harmer was born in Landstuhl, Germany. He attended Governor John R. Rogers High School in Puyallup, Washington, and was President of his senior class...
cites that the album is his favourite 2008 release, stating: "It's lyrically perfect with words that hit you right in the heart. And coupled with Scott Hutchison's vocals, the whole thing just kills me." The band would later go on to support Death Cab for Cutie on their November UK tour. Biffy Clyro
Biffy Clyro
Biffy Clyro are a Scottish rock band from Kilmarnock, comprising Simon Neil , James Johnston and Ben Johnston...
frontman Simon Neil
Simon Neil
Simon Alexander Neil is a Scottish vocalist, guitarist, and songwriter, known for his work in the bands Biffy Clyro and Marmaduke Duke.-Biffy Clyro:...
stated in an October 2008 interview that "The Modern Leper" was his favourite song of the year, and Frightened Rabbit were soon announced as the main support during their December tour: "We're incredibly excited to tell you that we'll be joined in London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
, Birmingham
Birmingham
Birmingham is a city and metropolitan borough in the West Midlands of England. It is the most populous British city outside the capital London, with a population of 1,036,900 , and lies at the heart of the West Midlands conurbation, the second most populous urban area in the United Kingdom with a...
, Manchester
Manchester
Manchester is a city and metropolitan borough in Greater Manchester, England. According to the Office for National Statistics, the 2010 mid-year population estimate for Manchester was 498,800. Manchester lies within one of the UK's largest metropolitan areas, the metropolitan county of Greater...
and Glasgow
Glasgow
Glasgow is the largest city in Scotland and third most populous in the United Kingdom. The city is situated on the River Clyde in the country's west central lowlands...
, by the quite brilliant Frightened Rabbit, whose album The Midnight Organ Fight is one of the best albums of this year. Utterly fantastic. Check it out. Now." Fightstar
Fightstar
Fightstar are an English alternative rock band from London. They formed in 2003 and their lineup comprises lead vocalist, guitarist and keyboardist Charlie Simpson, guitarist and vocalist Alex Westaway, bass guitarist Dan Haigh and drummer Omar Abidi...
vocalist and guitarist, Charlie Simpson
Charlie Simpson
Charles Robert Simpson , is an English musician, singer and songwriter. He was the youngest member of multi BRIT Award-winning band Busted, and is the lead vocalist, guitarist and co-lyricist in alternative rock band Fightstar...
, claimed the band "are by far the best thing I have heard for about as long as I can remember" and heaped praise on the album by adding "it's simply crammed to the brim with beautiful melodies and lyrics so poignant, they keep you thinking about what has been said long after the songs have stopped playing. There must be something in the water up in Scotland because this has got to be one of the best records I have heard since Aereogramme
Aereogramme
Aereogramme were a Scottish alternative/post-rock rock band from Glasgow, consisting of Craig B. , Iain Cook , Campbell McNeil and Martin Scott...
's debut release". Jim Adkins of Jimmy Eat World
Jimmy Eat World
Jimmy Eat World is an American alternative rock band from Mesa, Arizona, that formed in 1993. The band is composed of lead vocalist and guitarist Jim Adkins, guitarist and backing vocalist Tom Linton, bassist Rick Burch and drummer Zach Lind....
posted a blog on the band's official MySpace
MySpace
Myspace is a social networking service owned by Specific Media LLC and pop star Justin Timberlake. Myspace launched in August 2003 and is headquartered in Beverly Hills, California. In August 2011, Myspace had 33.1 million unique U.S. visitors....
citing that: "[The Midnight Organ Fight] was my favorite album of the year. Such a great combination of writing and delivery. One of the best live acts I got to see this year as well. I am really excited to see what 2009 brings for these guys."
Legacy and accolades
The Midnight Organ Fight found itself in several "must have" lists that were compiled by various music publications, networks, and other media in the years following its release. Bill Cummings of God Is in the TVGod Is in the TV Zine
God is in the TV Zine, or GIITTV, is an independent music and cultural webzine based in the UK. Launched in 2003 by Bill Cummings and Alex Worsnip, it now covers a wide range of music including unsigned, independent and major releases....
opined that the band had managed to, "step up to embrace a more luscious sound showcasing their unique ability (unlike many bands) to make personal experience connect on an almost anthemic, universal level. Scott’s songs convey candid tales of ordinary folk with a wry, acerbic wit via an eloquent, emotive, modern garage-pop aesthetic." Drowned in Sound
Drowned in Sound
DrownedinSound.com or DiS is a UK based music webzine financed by artist management company Silentway . The site is an editorially independent music website.-History:...
ranked the album at number two in their "Best Albums of 2008" list with Alexander Tudor writing, "Fact: Casual Listeners will buy what they’re told, if it’s got tunes and a catchphrase, which means the airwaves are always polluted with inanities, and we assume the norm is natural. But Word-of-Mouth means something, it means you're kept listening, maybe it means you loved that album, you felt like it was yours, and the votes you chose to send-in tell us the Not-So-Casual listener does care for the words s/he listens to; in this case, an album about breaking-up and f*cking-up, with the grisliest imagery since Arab Strap
Arab Strap (band)
Arab Strap were an indie rock band from Scotland that consisted of core members Aidan Moffat and Malcolm Middleton. The band were signed to independent record label Chemikal Underground, and split in 2006...
, and a moral complexity eclipsing Belle & Sebastian
Belle & Sebastian
Belle and Sebastian are an indie pop band formed in Glasgow in January 1996. Belle and Sebastian are often compared with influential indie bands such as The Smiths, as well as classic acts such as Love, Bob Dylan and Nick Drake. The name Belle & Sebastian comes from Belle et Sébastien, a 1965...
." It ranked at number twenty seven on The Fly
The Fly (magazine)
The Fly is a free music magazine published monthly in the United Kingdom. The magazine is published by the HMV owned MAMA Group.The magazine started as a listings leaflet in Camden, north London, for the Barfly music venue on Chalk Farm Road...
s end-of-year album list, with Stephen Brolan stating, "The Midnight Organ Fight may be a bitter, bitter account of relationships ending, but it is also one of the year's most sheerly loveable and entertaining albums. Pop brilliance and emotional turmoil perfectly synthesised." The Midnight Organ Fight also appeared in NME
NME
The New Musical Express is a popular music publication in the United Kingdom, published weekly since March 1952. It started as a music newspaper, and gradually moved toward a magazine format during the 1980s, changing from newsprint in 1998. It was the first British paper to include a singles...
s end-of year list at number thirty six, as well as being included in their "Greatest Albums of the Decade" article. In the latter, Barry Nicholson opined, "It’s a dark tunnel, but this record is worth it." Finbarr Bermingham of The Skinny named the album as the fourth best in Scotland between 2000-2009. He noted, "Trying to pick an album highlight has been an exercise in futility. Over the course of 18 months, any one of ten tracks has suggested itself as a contender. The song-writing here is accumulative: borrowing from a range of styles to create a near perfect whole; a flawless indie-pop record." American magazine Treble, while including the album in their "Best Albums of the 00s" list, said that the band, "blew the doors wide open with the epic, emotionally charged, The Midnight Organ Fight. If there's an album from 2008 with more fantastic melodies, I certainly haven't heard it. To paraphrase their own lyrics, they're much better than ever." The album also received end-of-year inclusions from various other media including Alternative Ulster
Alternative Ulster
AU is a magazine written, designed and published in Belfast, Northern Ireland. Although predominantly a music magazine, AU covers other aspects of popular culture, such as movies, comics, games and the arts...
, The A.V Club, Magnet
Magnet (magazine)
Magnet is a music magazine which generally focuses on alternative, independent, or out-of-the-mainstream bands.-History:The magazine is published four times a year, and is independently owned and edited by Eric T. Miller. Music magazines with a similar focus in the 1990s era included Option,...
, Lost at Sea
LAS Magazine
LAS Magazine, also known as Lost At Sea or LostAtSea.net, is a daily online magazine founded in 1998 by Eric J Herboth. An online social group for the magazine list it in the "Entertainment & Arts - Online Media" category with a description of "Art. Bike. Music. Media. Literature. Photography....
, Pitchfork Media
Pitchfork Media
Pitchfork Media, usually known simply as Pitchfork or P4k, is a Chicago-based daily Internet publication established in 1995 that is devoted to music criticism and commentary, music news, and artist interviews. Its focus is on underground and independent music, especially indie rock...
, and The Village Voice
The Village Voice
The Village Voice is a free weekly newspaper and news and features website in New York City that features investigative articles, analysis of current affairs and culture, arts and music coverage, and events listings for New York City...
.
| Publication | Country | Nominated work | Accolade | Year | Rank |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Alternative Ulster Alternative Ulster AU is a magazine written, designed and published in Belfast, Northern Ireland. Although predominantly a music magazine, AU covers other aspects of popular culture, such as movies, comics, games and the arts... |
United Kingdom United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages... |
The Midnight Organ Fight | Top Albums of the Year | 2008 | 3 |
| Drowned In Sound Drowned in Sound DrownedinSound.com or DiS is a UK based music webzine financed by artist management company Silentway . The site is an editorially independent music website.-History:... |
Top Fifty Albums of the Year | 2 | |||
| The Fly The Fly (magazine) The Fly is a free music magazine published monthly in the United Kingdom. The magazine is published by the HMV owned MAMA Group.The magazine started as a listings leaflet in Camden, north London, for the Barfly music venue on Chalk Farm Road... |
Albums of '08 | 27 | |||
| NME NME The New Musical Express is a popular music publication in the United Kingdom, published weekly since March 1952. It started as a music newspaper, and gradually moved toward a magazine format during the 1980s, changing from newsprint in 1998. It was the first British paper to include a singles... |
Top Fifty Albums of the Year | 36 | |||
| Top 100 Greatest Albums of the Decade | 2009 | 89 | |||
| The Skinny | Top Ten Albums of the Year | 2008 | 1 | ||
| Scottish Albums of the Decade | 2009 | 4 | |||
| The A.V Club | United States United States The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district... |
Best Music of the Year | 2008 | 20 | |
| Lost at Sea LAS Magazine LAS Magazine, also known as Lost At Sea or LostAtSea.net, is a daily online magazine founded in 1998 by Eric J Herboth. An online social group for the magazine list it in the "Entertainment & Arts - Online Media" category with a description of "Art. Bike. Music. Media. Literature. Photography.... |
Year End Report: Staff Composite Top 20 | 20 | |||
| Magnet Magnet (magazine) Magnet is a music magazine which generally focuses on alternative, independent, or out-of-the-mainstream bands.-History:The magazine is published four times a year, and is independently owned and edited by Eric T. Miller. Music magazines with a similar focus in the 1990s era included Option,... |
Top Albums of the Year | 7 | |||
| Pitchfork Media Pitchfork Media Pitchfork Media, usually known simply as Pitchfork or P4k, is a Chicago-based daily Internet publication established in 1995 that is devoted to music criticism and commentary, music news, and artist interviews. Its focus is on underground and independent music, especially indie rock... |
Fifty Best Albums of the Year | 33 | |||
| "The Modern Leper" | The 100 Best Tracks of 2008 | 78 | |||
| Treble | The Midnight Organ Fight | The Best Albums of the '00s | 2010 | 147 | |
| The Village Voice The Village Voice The Village Voice is a free weekly newspaper and news and features website in New York City that features investigative articles, analysis of current affairs and culture, arts and music coverage, and events listings for New York City... |
Pazz & Jop Pazz & Jop The Pazz & Jop critics' poll is a poll of music critics run by The Village Voice newspaper. It is compiled every year from the top ten lists of hundreds of music critics... |
2008 | 34 | ||
Song appearances
- "The Twist" and "Keep Yourself Warm" were featured in season 2, episodes 1 and 7, respectively, of the NBC show ChuckChuck (TV series)Chuck is an action-comedy/spy-drama television program from the United States created by Josh Schwartz and Chris Fedak. The series is about an "average computer-whiz-next-door" named Chuck, played by Zachary Levi, who receives an encoded e-mail from an old college friend now working for the Central...
. - "Good Arms Vs Bad Arms" was featured in episode 14 of series 4 of 'Grey's Anatomy' and in episode 6 of season 6 of 'One Tree HillOne Tree Hill (TV series)One Tree Hill is an American television drama created by Mark Schwahn, which premiered on September 23, 2003, on The WB Television Network. After its third season, The WB merged with UPN to form The CW Television Network, and, since September 27, 2006, the network has been the official broadcaster...
' - "Poke" was featured in episode 1 of Season 6 of 'One Tree Hill'.
- "My Backwards Walk" was featured in episode 13 of Season 6 of 'One Tree Hill'
- "My Backwards Walk" was also featured in episode 1 of Season 3 of 'Chuck'.
- "Old Old Fashioned" was featured in a UK National Lottery advert.
Track listing
All lyrics written by Scott Hutchison; music composed by Frightened RabbitFrightened Rabbit
Frightened Rabbit are a Scottish indie rock band from Selkirk, formed in 2003. The lineup consists of lead vocalist, rhythm guitarist and lyricist Scott Hutchison, guitarist and bassist Billy Kennedy, guitarist Andy Monaghan, drummer Grant Hutchison and guitarist and keyboardist Gordon Skene...
.
Bonus tracks
Personnel
The following personnel contributed to The Midnight Organ Fight:Frightened Rabbit
- Scott Hutchison — lead vocals, rhythm guitarRhythm guitarRhythm guitar is a technique and rôle that performs a combination of two functions: to provide all or part of the rhythmic pulse in conjunction with singers or other instruments; and to provide all or part of the harmony, ie. the chords, where a chord is a group of notes played together...
, lyricsLyricsLyrics are a set of words that make up a song. The writer of lyrics is a lyricist or lyrist. The meaning of lyrics can either be explicit or implicit. Some lyrics are abstract, almost unintelligible, and, in such cases, their explication emphasizes form, articulation, meter, and symmetry of...
, artworkCover artCover art is the illustration or photograph on the outside of a published product such as a book , magazine, comic book, video game , DVD, CD, videotape, or music album. The art has a primarily commercial function, i.e... - Billy Kennedy — lead guitarLead guitarLead guitar is a guitar part which plays melody lines, instrumental fill passages, guitar solos, and occasionally, some riffs within a song structure...
, bass guitarBass guitarThe bass guitar is a stringed instrument played primarily with the fingers or thumb , or by using a pick....
, keyboardsKeyboard instrumentA keyboard instrument is a musical instrument which is played using a musical keyboard. The most common of these is the piano. Other widely used keyboard instruments include organs of various types as well as other mechanical, electromechanical and electronic instruments... - Grant Hutchison — drums, percussion, backing vocals
Production
- Peter Katis — producerRecord producerA record producer is an individual working within the music industry, whose job is to oversee and manage the recording of an artist's music...
, engineerAudio engineeringAn audio engineer, also called audio technician, audio technologist or sound technician, is a specialist in a skilled trade that deals with the use of machinery and equipment for the recording, mixing and reproduction of sounds. The field draws on many artistic and vocational areas, including...
, mixingAudio mixing (recorded music)In audio recording, audio mixing is the process by which multiple recorded sounds are combined into one or more channels, most commonly two-channel stereo. In the process, the source signals' level, frequency content, dynamics, and panoramic position are manipulated and effects such as reverb may... - Alan Douches — mastering
- Jeremy Backofen — assistant engineer
- Kevin McMahon — assistant engineer
- Greg Giorgio — assistant engineer
- Dave Thomas — layoutPage layoutPage layout is the part of graphic design that deals in the arrangement and style treatment of elements on a page.- History and development :...