Scott Hrabko, the Rabbits, and his excellent husky have returned with Summer. Hrabko’s got a penchant for mixing old-time-sounding music with 21st century sensibilities. Part of this is fate, I think — Hrabko’s voice is that silky baritone that’s as comfortable with lounge music as it is country swing and rockabilly crooners. I think that’s my favorite secret of Hrabko’s music — on the surface, it seems wholesome but is in fact something your kids should be a little older to listen to.
Take, for example, “The Ogre’s Waltz,” a truly epic reel of double entendre and bluntly blue language:
Oh, the skids were greased for my disgrace
The day that I was born
The doctor said, “This one goes out to
The fury of all women scorned.”
From the single girls of Dublin
To the whores of Tripoli
They all take off running
Soon as they recognize me
I was haunted and horny in Borneo, baby
In the heat and humility
I’ll sing no more of Singapore
Till I’m safely out to sea
Hated in Haiti by Lord and by Lady
An attempt was made on my soul
These two voodoo dolls led me down a long hall
Since then I’ve been digging this hole
I’m the ogre at the orgy
The fly in the anointment
The madman’s spiel
The lowlight reel
To your deepest disappointment
And it’s many a wretch like me
Down on my knees
Clearly, Hrabko’s got an acidic sense of humor, but it’s also his inventiveness for incongruous imagery that brings drive to music that’s otherwise quite relaxed. “Vertigo Girls” is easily one of my favorite opening verses out there:
There’s a blonde on the tracks
With no strings attached
She’s free to get up and leave
There hasn’t been a train
Pass through this way
Since 19 – something – and 3
In short, Hrabko’s a craftsman and a songwriter’s songwriter. Summer is a damn fine album and was well worth the two-year wait.