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Jun 18, 2019 Owl John By Christopher Roberts

Last year, Scott Hutchison, 36-year-old frontman for Scotland’s Frightened Rabbit, was found dead of apparent suicide after he was earlier reported missing by the band. Now the band have announced Tiny Changes - A Celebration of The Midnight Organ Fight, a new tribute album where different artists cover each song on their 2008 album The Midnight Organ Fight. The album includes two covers of opening track “The Modern Leper,” one by Julien Baker and one by Biffy Clyro, and both of those have been shared. The album is due out July 12 via Canvasback Music/Atlantic and also includes covers by Benjamin Gibbard, Craig Finn, The Twilight Sad, Lauren Mayberry of CHVRCHES and Aaron Dessner of The National together, Manchester Orchestra, and more. Hutchison was actually involved in putting the album together before his death. Check out the Julien Baker and Biffy Clyro tracks below, followed by the album’s tracklist. Above is the cover art.

Some of the proceeds from sales of the album will benefit Tiny Changes, a mental health charity the band launched last month in honor of Hutchison, “to help raise awareness and provide support for children and young people struggling with mental health issues.”

The band issued this statement about the album:

“Tiny Changes - A Celebration of The Midnight Organ Fight

To celebrate the 10 year anniversary/birthday of The Midnight Organ Fight we wanted to avoid the usual approach of just repressing the vinyl or rereleasing the same record with different artwork or putting out demos that were never meant to be heard by anyone other than the band and maybe our parents. We came up with the idea of asking some pals to record their own interpretations of the songs on the album. It felt like a good way to celebrate everyone who had been a part of the last ten years of the band and we didn’t have to do any work ourselves! Every single person on Tiny Changes has been a part of our lives and Frightened Rabbit in a special way over the last ten years. We’ve shared studios, vans, bars, dressing rooms and probably even underwear with some of these people and that’s why this record is so special to us.

Scott was a vital part of bringing this album together and it’s something he was very excited about and worked hard to bring to life. He listened to and approved every track on there with us and he had already started preparing the artwork which you’ll see on there (if you buy it). This is a celebration of a record that connected thousands of people to Scott and connected thousands of people to each other and ten years on it is still managing to do it. Scott would probably have put in some joke here about when the album hits puberty and starts rebelling by smoking weed and getting things pierced. We’re not that funny so instead let’s just raise a glass, blow out the candles and make a wish.

We wish the album was available for pre-order tomorrow and that it will come out July 12th and you’ll be able to listen to two covers of ‘Modern Leper’ straight away when you pre-order! Now we’ve told you it probably won’t come true but we’ll keep everything crossed for you.

Grant, Andy, Simon and Billy x”

Our current print issue features an article about Hutchison. For the article we spoke in-depth to Grant Hutchison, Scott’s brother and Frightened Rabbit bandmate, about Scott’s long-term battle with depression and what he meant to his fans. We also spoke to James Graham of The Twilight Sad, Stuart Braithwaite of Mogwai, and Frightened Rabbit’s former manager Storme Whitby-Grubb. Read it here.

Frightened Rabbit released five studio albums: 2006’s Sing the Greys, 2008’s The Midnight Organ Fight, 2010’s The Winter of Mixed Drinks, 2013’s Pedestrian Verse, and 2016’s Painting of a Panic Attack. In 2014 Scott Hutchison released a solo album under the name Owl John. Hutchison also teamed up with his brother Grant Hutchison (also Frightened Rabbit’s drummer) and brothers Justin and James Lockey of Editors and Minor Victories to form supergroup Mastersystem, whose debut album, Dance Music, was released in 2018.

In April 2018 we interviewed Hutchison about the Mastersystem album. You can also revisit our 2016 interview with Hutchison on Painting of a Panic Attack and our 2014 interview with Hutchison about the Scottish Independence Referendum.

Back in May 2018 we posted three tributes to Hutchison after his passing:

Read Michael Hall’s tribute.

Read Paul Bullock’s tribute.

Read Mischa Pearlman’s tribute.

Tiny Changes - A Celebration of The Midnight Organ Fight Tracklist:

1. The Modern Leper - Biffy Clyro
2. I Feel Better - Oxford Collapse
3. Good Arms vs Bad Arms - Fiskur
4. Fast Blood - Right On Dynamite
5. Old Old Fashioned - Josh Ritter
6. The Twist - Wintersleep
7. Bright Pink Bookmark - Peter Katis
8. Head Rolls Off - Craig Finn
9. My Backwards Walk - Katie Harkin & Sarah Silverman
10. Keep Yourself Warm - Benjamin Gibbard
11. Extrasupervery - Jeff Zeigler
12. Poke - Daughter
13. Floating In The Forth - The Twilight Sad
14. Who’d You Kill Now - Aaron Dessner & Lauren Mayberry
15. The Modern Leper - Julien Baker
16. The Twist - Piano Bar Fight
17. My Backwards Walk - Manchester Orchestra

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