Update: The official video for “State Hospital” just arrived above.
It’s been nearly a year since Frightened Rabbit shared a brief follow-up to The Winter of Mixed Drinks in the form of a 3-track EP, but now comes word that LP4 is on tape and ready for release via their new label, Atlantic Records, early in 2013. In the meantime, a brand new studio single has hit the airwaves, premiering on Zane Lowe‘s BBC Radio show early tonight. “State Hospital” is the title track to the new EP due September 25th. While Scott Hutchison first unveiled the unplugged version for an MFR session earlier in the month, this full-band recording is a much more rousing event — at times even recalling their sophomore record, Midnight Organ Fight, a bit more than the last set. In short, this bodes very well for both FR’s debut major-label effort and first foray into sharing songwriting duties as a 5-piece band. Here’s Hutchison on the new approach:
There’s a point where you feel a song’s mine, and to let that go was slightly difficult. But to be honest, around the end of the last album I found I was starting to repeat myself. The whole writing process was getting a bit stagnant, so to introduce this was something I had to get used to in order to make the band better and more interesting.
Hear the official broadcast and acoustic live take:
“State Hospital” (Studio Version)
“State Hospital” (Live Solo Acoustic)