Remembering Scott Hutchinson of Frightened Rabbit

A legend walked amongst all you tired human beings

On Wednesday night I learned of the disappearance of Scott Hutchinson of Frightened Rabbit. He had sent a couple of "worrying" tweets, left his phone in a hotel and walked out. For the next couple of days I kept searching his name every couple of hours to see if there was any news.

On Friday May 11th, I unlocked my phone before I went to work, I saw the news. I couldn't believe it and bawled my eyes out on the way to work. The genius singer/songwriter from my favorite band had committed suicide at age 36. My manager at work asked how I was doing, and I could barely tell him what had happened. My manager said, "Did you know the guy". No, but I may as well have. I don't generally get all worked up when celebrities die, but this seemed much more personal, like I'd lost a friend and confidant.

Hundreds of people have written well done tribute articles, so there's no real reason to read mine. I'm really just writing this for my own benefit to process his untimely death. Scott's music with Frightened Rabbit and Owl John (also Mastersystem but I've only listened to it once so far) was always very open, honest and personal. When Scott sang about a problem I could relate to, it made that problem seem not so bad. His music was like therapy from a friend. A very poetic friend with a heavy Scottish accent and cracking voice.

I discovered Frabbit (as they're known to fans) in 2009 and after hearing "Swim Until You Can't See Land" I was hooked and purchased copies of all their albums. I saw them open for Death Cab for Cutie in 2011 (or 2010?). I was singing along during their amazing live performance and people around me were saying things like, "Who are these guys? They're great!"

I'm dead now can you hear the relief As life's belligerent symphonies finally cease

I read an article on Noisey a couple days before Scott went missing. He talked a bit about what he wanted to do for the next record and stated that they had several demos together. He also said this from the interview:

He talked about the song "Floating in the Forth" and how he's gone 90% of the way through the story in the song (in which he finds peace jumping from the Forth Street Bridge). Well he was found downstream from there, so perhaps that's exactly what happened. He also talked about his mental state and how negatives consumed him. Perhaps he was much worse than the 6/10 that he said.

While I'm alive I'll make tiny changes to earth

It was hard to come up with a few songs to post in this article, because there are so many classic tunes to choose from. I've also scrounged up about 30 b-side, non-album and alternate version track that are by and large just as brilliant as their main album material. I recommend checking out their Soundcloud https://soundcloud.com/frightened-rabbit In closing... You were an inspiration Scott. I appreciate all the feeling, passion and tiny changes you've brought to the earth. Thank you. I hope you're at peace.