I Just Read About That…

SOUNDTRACK: FRIGHTENED RABBIT-The Winter of Mixed Drinks (2010).

I enjoyed Frightened Rabbit’s previous disc ever so much: a twisted blend of rocking folk music and very dark lyrics.  The fact that a number of these songs were used in Chuck was a treat for me.

I’ve never heard their first disc, so I don’t know how much their songwriting changed from disc 1 to disc 2.  But there’s a pretty huge leap from disc 2 to disc 3.

The most notable track has got to be “Swim Until You Can’t See Land.”   And it’s notable for having a really rocking and catchy and undeniable chorus.  They liked it so much, they reprise it later in the disc (with new instrumentation and such) on “Man/Bag of Sand.”

The rest of the disc sounds like Frightened Rabbit, but like the full band version.  There’s just so much music, that it actually distracts a bit from the lyrics (on the previous disc, the lyrics were certainly more of the focus).  There’s even a string arrangement on “Living in Colour.”

And yet despite all of these changes, they never lose what makes FR special: that voice and that outlook.  Although I’m sure I would have enjoyed if this disc was similar to the previous one, I’m always delighted to see a band take some chances and try something different.  And here they did, and it works wonderfully.

[READ: May 19, 2010] “Ash”

On April 14, Iceland’s volcano Eyjafjallajokull erupted.  And here, barely a month later, Roddy Doyle has written a story in which that eruption plays a role.  I’m impressed enough that he could get a coherent story written in that short amount of time, but I’m amazed that it was squeezed so quickly into The New Yorker‘s fiction schedule.  Admittedly, I don’t know how The New Yorker does anything, so I don’t know if they had a slot open (doubtful) or if they had to push back other stories (unlikely) or maybe he was slotted to give them something else, and whipped this out instead?  Beats me.  Whatever the reason, I was really surprised to see this here.

Okay, so technically, the story isn’t really about the eruption, and, admittedly, it’s not a hugely complex story. But it showcases what Doyle does best: conversations about the way people behave (and how men don’t really get women).

As the story opens, Kevin’s wife tells him that they are splitting up.  But they’ll still be friends.  Later that night, Kevin is in bed alone.  Then his wife is on top of him, and he is inside her and they have passionate sex.  And then she’s gone.

The rest of the story consist of Kevin talking to his brother Mitch (and, hilariously, texting) about how marriages work, how Mitch’s ended (again, hilariously, although not for him), and about a club that Kevin should go to on Sunday.

Mitch is now the sole provider of his two girls.  How will he tell them?  Can he even tell them?  He spends the next few days wrapping his mind about his new reality.

Then, again, one night, she returns.  Sex is not an option; however, she is still there in the morning.  And then the volcano erupts (literally).

This is something a slight story, and yet Roddy Doyle is wonderful at creating brief scenes that say a lot.  I can’t help but think that he’d been working on this story and the volcano happened and gave him and ending.  Regardless, this is a good story about relationships.

It also inspired me to make a drawing of Eyjafjallajokull.

The story is available here.