French For Rabbits – In The End I Won’t Be Coming Home: EP Review

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French For Rabbits have just released their new EP titled In The End I Won’t Be Coming Home. The 13th Floor’s Eddie Kitchin has had a listen. Here are his thoughts:

We must always be grateful when the cultural petri dish blooms again – French For Rabbits have been fermenting and releasing their unique pallet of flavor for a little over a decade now. This EP’s release has been twinned with a re-release of their debut 2012 album Claimed By The Sea.

The macabre introspective atmosphere woven throughout their work is alive and well in their latest offering. Listening prompts me to dig out my cosiest jacket to shield myself against the cold wind carried within these 4 tracks – Brrrrr. Indeed Baring Head – the second track on the EP, written in that very landscape of wind, ocean and boulders, has certainly captured the big skies and angry seas. The song’s call to art over profit, further reminds us of the artist’s small voice against the commercial giants of the industry.

The struggle of the EP’s creation perfectly reflects this dichotomy – rounds of funding applications declined in an increasingly squeezed eco-system. The pain of creating art is concealed in all dimensions of this record.

The good news for us at least, is that suffering produces some of the best stuff, and while I am not always in the mood for a blowy coastal walk, it’s often exactly what I need. The ‘small voice of the artist’ is epitomised in Brooke Singer’s fragile, almost whisper-like vocal. Despite its delicacy, it somehow slices through the strings and wind, bringing a refreshing clarity. The orchestral strings add volume and a sense of scale befitting the overall mood.

The distinctive and slightly pensive melodies give the songs a lazy and unsettling chill, often resolving phrases on the minor 6th. The third track Leech, in Dorian mode epitomises this. I guess we shouldn’t be surprised, the song is called Leech folks.

The struggle is evident in the song names, their message, the album titles, in the EP’s back story dramas, most of all its present in the music.

We should remember, in the end, humanity was not born in the controlled laboratory environment of a petri dish, It grew from chaos, it somehow found a way, crawling ragged from the ocean swells. It wasn’t easy, but for all this it was profoundly beautiful.

Eddie Kitchin (One Man)

Click here for more French For Rabbits

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