I bought this record mostly because I'm a fan of Manchester Orchestra and of Frightened Rabbit, but also partly because it really feels like the sort of record that Record Store Day should be releasing - something that's a little different and not just a reissue of an album everyone has on cd anyway. I feel like less of an idiot queuing outside a record shop for four hours on an April morning if I get to take home some songs that are made for that day. I don't know what sequence of events led Manchester Orchestra to record a song with Grouplove and a song with Frightened Rabbit, nor how those songs came together on two sides of an RSD 12", but I like the idea a lot.
So what about the songs? Grouplove are a band I know absolutely nothing about. Six months after I bought this record I had just sat down in a hire car and put the radio on (having left my pile of cds buried deep inside my luggage). The hifi told me that the song playing on the radio was Grouplove, and it sounded familiar. I couldn't place why I knew it, but it wasn't my thing particularly. The parts of Make It To Me that I assume are Grouplove's contribution aren't really for me either (and I think my assumption is fair - they're the parts of the song that don't sound very much like Manchester Orchestra). That said, it's not a bad song and quite catchy. I could do without the possibly-Cockney vocals that come in towards the end though.
Frightened Rabbit's collaboration is a much slower and more sombre affair, but it also works nicely. It's hard to compare (because I don't know much by Grouplove), but Manchester Orchestra's contribution feels much less evident here. In fact, Architect wouldn't sound out of place on any of the Frightened Rabbit albums I own (still haven't bought the last one. I really must pick that up).
The strangest thing here is why this record is a 12" single rather than a 7". The running length of both songs is less than 8 minutes, so it would fit quite happily on a 7". Historically, in my understanding at least, 12" singles existed mainly for dance music to allow for greater depth and richer bass (but this could be complete nonsense). Perhaps that's what they were going for here. Or perhaps it's because they knew I probably wouldn't have bought this record had it been a 7"! With the average price of a RSD 7" being about £7, I tend to avoid them and I might have done the same here. I guess I assumed the songs would be longer, hence it being a 12", and £8 for 12" of two long, unique songs seemed like a relative bargain (on a day of ridiculous prices). I certainly don't regret the purchase but it's a funny set of circumstances that led this record to be in my collection when it could have easily gone the other way.
Format: 12"
Tracks: 2
Cost: £8 new
Bought: Banquet Records
When: 20/04/13
Colour: Black
Etching: none
mp3s: Download code
