Last night in Glasgow, The National covered the Frightened Rabbit favourite ‘My Backwards Walk’ from their 2008 album The Midnight Organ Fight, in tribute of the late Scott Hutchison.
For the cover, The National brought out Lauren Mayberry of Chvrches, who joined the band’s other backing vocalists in singing the track.
Glasgow is the hometown of Mayberry, and where Frightened Rabbit were based for much of their career from 2004.
As NME reports, Mayberry and The National guitarist Aaron Dessner, who produced final Frightened Rabbits album Painting of a Panic Attack, recently collaborated for a cover of FR track ‘Who’d You Kill Now’ on the Frightened Rabbit tribute album Tiny Changes. The album features friends and colleagues of the band covering The Midnight Organ Fight in full in celebration of its 10th anniversary.
“I loved The Midnight Organ Fight and all of Aaron’s work so it seemed like a good match,” said Mayberry of their collaborative cover. “This always felt to me like every song on the album had an important part to play in the overall story or narrative, and Aaron’s arrangement really maintained the original emotion of the song which I think is important. Paying homage to a great album rather than trying to re-do it.”
It’s been just over a year since Frightened Rabbit frontman Scott Hutchison passed away. The singer was found dead in May 2018 after he’d been reported missing days earlier.
It’s a pretty beautiful performance, with rain falling on the crowd throughout. Check out some fan-shot footage of the emotional cover below. The National are set to tour Australia early next year in support of eighth studio album I Am Easy To Find. They’ll tour March and April 2020 with Phoebe Bridgers.
