Canvasback/Atlantic

If the Hold Steady dominates the field of barroom rock and roll – the stuff of binges with friends – then Glasgow, Scotland’s Frightened Rabbit write music for when those drunken nights end alone. The pretty girls all left, and you’re drowning in your whiskey. On their fourth LP Pedestrian Verse, frontman Scott Hutchinson leads his crew through his most majestically miserable set yet. Where 2008’s breakthrough The Midnight Organ Fight allowed Hutchinson to wax poetic about hate-fucking over lo-fi folk-punk, Pedestrian Verse is a more buttoned-up sound: bigger choruses, crisp production, heavy bass. The sonic upgrade works beautifully, largely because Hutchinson remains perfectly imperfect. “I don’t mind being lonely, so leave me alone. You’re
acting all holy, when you know I’m full of holes,” he wails on “Holy.” The soundtrack to your long walk home is here.