At the precise moment Feral Children launches into “On A Frozen Beach”, the fifth track off their sophomore release Brand New Blood, the ferocious percussion kicks into gear. There’s a key element here: the percussion is lent by front-man and standing percussionist Jeff Keenan as well as a second drummer on the trap set. First hearing the song, I noted that it sounded as though the wild, feral side of the band had been contained to a degree. And that concept is fully realized in Brand New …

When I compiled my original Best Of 2008 list last December, it was a snow day. The sky dropped about a foot, maybe a foot and a half of fluffy white stuff and we lowly sub-compact drivers could go nowhere. Between ranking albums and locating album art, I took a stroll around town with my camera. The above image comes from that trek. Overall, I was pretty happy with last year’s list but, in revisiting all the albums from 2008, I now see quite a few …

“On A Frozen Beach” finds Seattle’s Feral Children traveling a slightly different path for their upcoming sophomore release, Brand New Blood. Where their debut Second To The Last Frontier featured ferocious yells and wild erratic percussion quite true to their given moniker, “On A Frozen Beach” is in comparison quite tame. Those early elements remain, but they are now masked by a so-called return to civilization.

Recently I received a digital EP simply titled SXSW EP by Feral Children, including several tracks from their upcoming full-length out sometime in the hopefully near future on Sarathan Records. And, since sticking the four tunes on my new iPod Touch (or, iTouch, if you will), I’ve been absolutely hooked.

Lead singer Jeffrey Keenan has the voice of a younger Isaac Brock (Modest Mouse), if not the wild-eyed nature. His nature is his own and you can see it when he grabs the drum-sticks—that intensely focused look in his eyes. Feral Children have come to be a dominant name in Seattle thanks to these performances and their debut LP, Second To The Last Frontier, is finally ready for public consumption.