Album Of The Week: Frog 1000 Variations On The Same Song

It's the Year Of The Frog.

We have upcoming albums from New York folk duo Frog, Vancouver indie rock group Frog Eyes, Bristol doom metal band Froglord, and New York technical metal crew FROGG. Last month saw a new EP from Frog Prog, and this week Olympia's GothBoiClique member fish narc shares frog song. I don't know what's going on, but I have to acknowledge it.

Now, onto today's focus: Frog.

There’s a quote I came across a while ago that hasn’t left my mind since. I can’t seem to locate the source, but it’s something along the lines of, “A novelist spends their life writing the same story over and over.” I’m reminded of this when I read the mission statement for the new Frog album, which is: “1000 Variations On The Same Song is a theme and variations — there are times in your life as a songwriter where you’ll start a bunch of stuff that all sounds alike, which can be a problem, something that you want to excise from yourself. This time I decided to embrace it and take it as far as it could go.” After all, why fix something that’s not broken?

I also like the idea because I think it’s a productive exercise to lean into the tendencies you have as an artist rather than feel pressured to try different things. If there are recurring motifs in your work, why not explore them to the extreme, see how deep it goes?

1000 Variations On The Same Song is Frog’s sixth album. The cult-followed New York indie duo began as Daniel Bateman and Thomas White; White left in 2019, and was replaced with Daniel’s brother Steve. Over the years, Frog have been refining their brand of emotional, folk-leaning lo-fi, particularly mastering the craft on 2019’s intimate Count Bateman. They caught our attention with its follow-up, 2023’s Grog, which contained the playfully infectious and endearing single “Maybelline.” Frog’s strength is their seemingly effortless ability to break your heart and make you laugh in the same breath.

“MIXTAPE LINER NOTES
VAR. VII” is the 1000 Variations On The Same Song lead single, and it’s a lot different than “Maybelline.” “MIXTAPE LINER NOTES
VAR. VII” is the poignant side of Frog; banjos are softly plucked, the lyrics narrate a romance in terms of a mixtape (which has My Chemical Romance, Big Star, and the National), and Daniel strains his desperate voice as he reaches high pitches to express just how down bad he is (he’s crying over broken Casios, it’s bad). It achieves the yearning that soars through the unforgettable Count Bateman highlight “You Know I’m Down,” an agonizingly beautiful ballad about sacrificing dignity for love: “Call me when you’re feeling down/ Call me when he’s not around.”

My colleague Chris DeVille describes 1000 Variations On The Same Song as if Modest Mouse made a Pinegrove album. The Isaac Brock energy is especially prevalent on “WHERE DO I SIGN VAR. III,” so much so it feels impossible that this band is from New York. It has the distinctive texture of Midwest suffering as Daniel recounts monotonous family turmoil in his ragged pleas: “Why you always fighting with your brother/ Why can’t y’all be nice to one another/ You can’t pull hair/ You got to share.”

The lyrics are severely unpredictable, with Daniel sometimes falling into a mumbly almost rap-like flow (he states he was listening to a lot of Kodak Black during the making of the record) such as on “HOUSEBROKEN VAR. IV”: “My niece was seven when felt chinchilla/ Fucking up the track like my name J Dilla/ Topped Michael Jackson I outsold Thriller.” It’s a standard case of Let him cook.

This tension between sonic vulnerability and lyrical ridiculousness is a silly one the pair play with a lot; on “BLAMING IT ALL ON THE LIFESTYLE VAR. V,” Daniel murmurs shyly about Gucci and amphetamines. The piano-led “DID SANTA COME VAR. IX” serves as an eccentric holiday anthem: “Stick out your tongue/ The air tastes like home/ Vape hits your lungs/ Bring in the drums/ Did Santa come?” It’s an Elf Bar Christmas, ladies and gentlemen.

"I admit I wrote this in a bar," Bateman sings guiltily on “MIXTAPE LINER NOTES
VAR. VII,” and it feels like you're sitting next to him, watching him sip his drink and scribble lyrics on a napkin. The jaunty piano in “JUST USE YR HIPS VAR. VI” is a delight; the emo-tinged chords and shadowy sound of “DOOMSCROLLING VAR. II” sufficiently haunt. 1000 Variations On The Same Song is another cozy, evocative masterpiece from Frog, arriving on Valentine’s Day nonetheless. If you have the privilege of being heartbroken at the moment, 1000 Variations On The Same Song is the perfect soundtrack for ache. Don’t take it for granted.

1000 Variations On The Same Song is out 2/14 via Audio Antihero/Tape Wormies.

Other albums of note out this week:
• Horsegirl's Phonetics On
• Bartees Strange's Horror
• Drake & PARTYNEXTDOOR's $ome $exy $ongs 4 U
• Venturing's Ghostholding
• Marshall Allen's New Dawn
• Cryogeyser's Cryogeyser
• John Glacier's Like A Ribbon
• Doves' Constellations For The Lonely
• Richard Dawson's End Of The Middle
• Denison Witmer's Anything At All
• Fish Narc’s Frog Song
• Joshua Radin's One Day Home
• Black Birdie's 12 : 22
• Vulture Feather's It Will Be Like Now
• Immersion & SUSS' Nanocluster Vol. 3
• Lacuna Coil's Sleepless Empire
• Mereba's The Breeze Grew
• Kestrels' Better Wonder
• Art d'Ecco's Serene Demon
• Alessia Cara's Love & Hyperbole
• Eyedress' Occasional Stoner
• Oracle Sisters' Divinations
• Bill Medley's Straight From The Heart
• Robert Ascroft's Echo Still Remains
• The Delines' Mr. Luck & Ms. Doom
• Hour's Subminiature Live Album
• Fantastic Twins' Suite Of Rooms
• Marinero's La La La
• Morgan Saint's Out Of The Blue
• Janine Rainforth's Soul Retrieval
• Thala's Avalanche
• The War And Treaty's Plus One
• Stephen Davis Unit's The Gleaming World
• Louis Dunford's Be Lucky
• Dead Gowns' It's Summer, I Love You, And I'm Surrounded By Snow
• Musiq Soulchild & Hit-Boy's Victims & Villains 2
• THEY.'s LOVE.JONES
• Bleeding Through's Nine
• Revelle's was wenn alles gut geht?
• JORIS' zu viel retro
• MILCK's Mother Tongue
• Divad Divine's Back Down
• Dawn Of Solace's Affliction Vortex
• Winona Fighter's My Apologies To The Chef
• Deb Talan's I Thought I Saw You
• Dynazty's Game Of Faces
• Mantar's Post Apocalyptic Depression
• Rizzle Kicks' Competition Is For Losers
• Emily Saunders' Moon Shifts Oceans
• The Illness' Macrodosed
• Gary Louris' Dark Country
• The Lumineers' Automatic
• GAIKO'S GAIKO
• Manic Street Preachers' Critical Thinking
• Marshall Allen's New Dawn
• KALI Trio's The Playful Abstract
• Rusty Williams' Grand Man
• Saint Motel's Symphony In The Sky
• OHGEESY's Paid N Full
• Hurricane Wisdom's Perfect Storm
• Nems' America's Sweetheart
• Kelela's In The Blue Light Live Album
• Sabrina Carpenter's Short N' Sweet (Deluxe)
• Wyatt Flores' Live At Cain's Ballroom
• JISOO's AMORTAGE Mini Album
• Winter & Hooky's Water Season EP
• Beau's Recorded In The East Village, NYC EP
• Anish Kumar & Hagop Tchaparian's Kino EP
• Shygirl's Club Shy Room 2 EP
• Raven's Can't Take Away The Fire EP
• Animal Scream's Otherworldly Pictures EP
• Bevil Web's Bevil Web EP
• The None's Care EP
• Bug Eyed's We Talk Thunderstorms Not Showers (Part 1) EP
• Shuta Hasunuma's +1P EP EP
• SOO JOO's No Ghost EP
• Customer Service's to you, after 2000 years EP
• Church Tongue's You'll Know It Was Me EP