Following on from their appearances at the recent Laneway Festivals, Scottish five-piece Frightened Rabbit release their new album The Winter of Mixed Drinks this week. Singer Scott Hutchison speaks to Tom Hawking about isolation, self-renewal and why he’s writing a one-man show about Brian Blessed.

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Can you tell me about the idea of “swimming until you can’t see land”? The phrase is the title of the first single from The Winter of Mixed Drinks, and similar lyrics also turn up in a couple of the other songs on the album – it’s obviously an important concept for you?

Yeah, for sure. It was actually a working title for the album, and it ties in really well with all the ideas on the album. It's about the idea of letting go of things, of ridding yourself of a lot of stuff that we have that we really don't need. And sonically, it works well with the album also. A journey to the hinterland of the soul [laughs].

You’ve suggested that ‘Swim Until You Can’t See Land’ is “a good introduction to the record’s themes”. Could you expand on those themes?

Sure. Lyrically it’s a really good way to start [the album] off, because it deals with those themes of dropping all this stuff that you gather in life that you don’t need. There’s a lot of stuff in life that you just don’t need - you gather all this crap, and this record is about letting that go, and following on comes ‘until you can’t see land’, and that works as a sort of follow-up - you’ve worked through all this stuff, and all you’re left with is what you are as a human, without all the trappings and nonsense that comes with modern life.

The sea seems to be an important metaphor/lyrical conceit throughout the new album?

Yeah, absolutely. I went out to a small coastal village called Crail in Scotland to write the record. I’ve never lived by the sea before so it was a huge influence on me. I wasn’t even necessarily thinking about writing when I went out there, but all of a sudden this coastal theme just came rushing forth and I just started writing really quickly. It was really inspiring being out there by the ocean. It’s a powerful thing, and it’s all over the record.

You’ve said that the last record was loosely themed around a single break-up; is there any single event or idea that inspired this record?

There’s no event as such; it was just being out there, I guess, being on my own. There’s also a theme of solitude... it’s definitely the story of one person. I went out there after being on tour, and touring does send you around the bend a little bit. So I was in this funny mental state and I think a lot of the theme of the record is the idea of losing yourself and subsequent recovery from going a bit mad. So yeah, it’s definitely not about a break-up this time, it’s just about the trials and tribulations of being human.

To my ears the album sounds less introspective and more expansive than the last album, though. Do you feel that your sound has progressed or changed since The Midnight Organ Fight?

It has. We’ve definitely widened the horizon. It’s much, much less claustrophobic, and more open, I guess. We wanted to go bigger with this one; it’s not necessarily something we want to do in the future, but with this one we were able to use strings and horns, and sonically the landscape is much wider because we were getting more time to make the record. It just came out this way. We had the luxury of three weeks in the studio recording it, and when you have that, you can tinker with some of the songs.

It definitely sounds like more of a studio creation.

Definitely. The songs on The Midnight Organ Fight were all written – all we did in the studio was recreate them. This time we left more of the creative part until we got to the studio. We didn’t think  about what was possible to recreate live; we just wanted to make the best record we could. So it’s definitely got more than a four- or five-piece band.

You’ve added two members to the band over the last couple of years – does having more people in the band allow for more leeway to express yourself musically?

Yeah, it allows much more detail, and [the band]’s getting closer to the way that I wanted it to sound. It definitely makes you more comfortable making big records in the studio, because you know you can get some way to recreating them live. We’re a five-piece now and I think that’s quite enough. Beyond that, you delve into Arcade Fire or Polyphonic Spree territory. We’re not interested in doing that – we still want to be a band. But it definitely widens the possibilities.

The single leaked but as a consequence ended up on NME’s end-of-year best of list... How do you feel about the leak in retrospect?

It was great! (laughs) We’re not really much of a singles band – we definitely try to make albums, as opposed to a collection of singles. But to get recognition for individual songs is really nice. We knew we had the record in the band, and we were very pleased with it as a whole, but I wasn’t sure how individual songs might be taken out of the context of the album. We wrote it as an album, and it was meant to be listened to as an album. So to get that song recognised at the end of the year was lovely, and I think it was a good entry point for people and an introduction to the record.

You seem pretty active on twitter – is it you who handles tweeting duties?

It’s everyone, really. We all contribute.

Are you really truly writing a play about Brian Blessed?

What? Oh! [excited] Yes! That’s me! I’m trying [laughs]. I’ve not got much time at the moment, but when I’m on tour and when I have spare time. I started it as a stupid idea, but you’re the second person to ask me about it in an interview, and the more people that ask me about it, the more I want to do it.

You totally should.

I know! The whole idea was that I’d write a play about Brian Blessed being really confused about the line that’s drawn between what’s a film and what’s real life. And he’d star in his own play, and it would be a Charlie Kaufman style thing – you’d think Brian Blessed was acting in front of you, but he’d think it was actual real life.

Being Brian Blessed?

Yeah, exactly [laughs]. It’s not a new idea, but I think Brian Blessed is such a fucking amazing character – to have him as a one-man show, thinking he’s in medieval England... I might run it at the Edinburgh festival. It’d be great.

Tom Hawking