Sometimes you tend to ignore the fact. You find yourself thinking ‘Oh, when will Frightened Rabbit end their hiatus and release a new album?’, only to instantly remind yourself that things aren’t the same anymore. A little more than a year ago band leader Scott Hutchison took his life and like us the band and their friends and family are still suffering from the loss and trying to cope with what has happened. Frightened Rabbit will never be the same again and to this day it’s unclear whether the remaining four members will actually continue to perform under this name. We’re in a strange state between denial and acceptance and maybe in a situation like this it’s best to let the music of Hutchison to the talking. And this new project called Tiny Changes surely does.

‘And while I’m alive, I’ll make tiny changes to earth’ – taken from the band’s 2008 tune Head Rolls Off it’s one of Hutchison’s lyrics that really stuck with us following his death, something NBHAP editor Henning Grabow already addressed last year. Taken from the band’s cult classic album The Midnight Organ Flight, it’s one of many tracks that continue to shine beyond this tragic loss. And as this album is so important for the band, their fans and many other artists they decided to celebrate it in a special way. Instead of another pointless vinyl repressing Frightened Rabbit invited close friends to provide their takes on these songs, resulting in a stunning compilation that features people like Julien Baker, Death Cab For Cutie‘s Ben Gibbard, Daughter, The Twilight Sad as well as Aaron Dessner of The National and CHVRCHES‘ Lauren Mayberry who recorded their own version of Who’d You Kill Now?

Scheduled for a release on July 12 Tiny Changes not only celebrates the music of Scott Hutchison but also collides with the launch of a Scottish mental health charity set up in memory of the artist, set up by his friends and family. Here’s how they describe it.

‘In an effort to turn this tragedy in to something positive and to provide help and support that we feel is missing from today’s society we plan to make tiny changes to young people’s lives through education and inspiration.

Cases of mental illness in young people and children are reaching epidemic levels and go largely unnoticed by a lot of society. We plan to change this trend and stop this problem as early as possible in a person’s life. Scott suffered from anxiety from an early age but like so many there was a lack of support, understanding and awareness of these issues and this is something we will strive to change.

We can all do this by continuing Scott’s legacy and keeping alive his words of hope and togetherness. Say it to yourself. Say it to your friends. Say it to strangers.’

And we can only repeat these words and add a pure and honest ‘You are not alone!’ A fair share of the proceeds from the Tiny Changes compilation will directly go to this charity and if you need another reason to support it, this might be it. Frightened Rabbit‘s music will continue to shine and so will Scott’s legacy.

Tracklist:

01. Biffy Clyro – The Modern Leper
02. Oxford Collapse – I Feel Better
03. Fiskur – Good Arms vs Bad Arms
04. Right On Dynamite – Fast Blood
05. Josh Ritter – Old Old Fashioned
06. Wintersleep – The Twist
07. The Philistines Jr. – Bright Pink Bookmark
08. Craig Finn – Head Rolls Off
09. Harkin & Sarah Silverman – My Backwards Walk
10. Benjamin Gibbard – Keep Yourself Warm
11. Inletts – Extrasupervery
12. Daughter – Poke
13. The Twilight Sad – Floating In The Forth
14. Aaron Dessner & Lauren Mayberry – Who’d You Kill Now?
15. Julien Baker – The Modern Leper
16. Piano Bar Fight – The Twist
17. Manchester Orchestra – My Backwards Walk

Tiny Changes: A Celebration Of The Midnight Organ Fight will be released on July 12 and you can pre-order it right here.