Frightened Rabbit began as the solo effort of singer and songwriter Scott Hutchison in 2003, and now includes his brother Grant Hutchison, Billy Kennedy and Andy Monaghan. The Scottish group's debut album, Sing the Greys, (Hits the Fan) appeared in 2007; subsequent releases have included Midnight Organ Fight (2008) and The Winter of Mixed Drinks (2010).
The 11 contributors to our 13th compilation CD were invited to turn one of the predictions of 16th-century astrologer Nostradamus into a brand-new song. Most scholars agree that his four-line prophesies (quatrains) are more poetic than prophetic, utilizing language that is oblique enough to support any number of different interpretations. The resulting tracks—some somber, some surprisingly buoyant—all celebrate that poetry, reveling in the ambiguity of their source material while allowing it to reverberate in a musical context.