Michigan folk-rock band Frontier Ruckus return for their sixth album ‘On the Northline’, known for their intricate and poetic orchestral folk-pop creations, the band return with an album steeped in vocal harmonies and a tender kind of melancholy. Written from across a years-long timeline, these new songs trace a jagged development that bounces back and forth between antisocial, lonely-hearted searching and the bliss of self-discovery that came with deeper commitment. The Michigan band was formed by young friends David Jones and Matthew Milia when they were still in high school, and were solidified with the addition of multi-instrumentalist Zachary Nichols
The album opens with `Swore I Had a Friend` a gentle quite introspective introduction with a strummed banjo and guiding drumbeat leading us along. A trumpet or trombone joins in the latter stages and adds a slight melancholic tinge to this delightfully reflective musing. I read that `Everywhere but beside You` is a sighing daydream about meeting someone perfect as projected from within a restless bachelordom. It does have that contemplative and slightly uplifting flutter of early romantic optimism.
`Magdalene (That’s Not Your Name)` is a plaintive tale of a potential romantic suiting where the object of desire goes under a pseudonym although the narrator is aware of this but is still smitten. The musical accompaniment reflects wonderfully the emotional wasteland that our storyteller is experiencing. We enjoy in `On The Northline`, the title track and a song inspired by the North Country of upstate New York where Matthew`s father` family arrived from Sicily in the early 1900s and how it has changed for good and bad. A superbly contemplative composition that takes you to adolescent times and how where you originated from shapes you and evokes a deep seated reminiscence within.
`Mercury Sable` is another account of amour that has brought with it a real sense of serenity shared over a backing that feels like a warm glow. We appreciate another recollection on times passed with `Clarkston Pasture` and somebody in particular that meant so much to you in that small place you grew up in. An absorbing listen with a heartening backstory.
Intricate chords lead us into `In the Money` a stripped back submission with lamenting vocal harmonies which appear to rue on maybe what could have been. We have a soft countrified ballad like nostalgic offering with `Bloomfield Marriott` with a brushed drum, shook tambourine , banjo and unobtrusive brass tinges that put me in mind of The Connells “74-`75` song. It increases in volume in the last sixty seconds or so.
`First Song for Lauren` is possibly a brief love ode with just vocal and strummed acoustic guitar while banjo led `The Machines of Summer` has a kind of Byrds / Gram Parsons like ambience.
`I’m Not the Boy` is a tale of romantic heartache and desire which has a strange stop start texture as it veers this way and that with brass and what sounds like a theremin in the latter section. The album closes with `Wherefore` a reflective kind of instrumental.
‘On the Northline’, is an absorbing and appealing listen and does command your attention throughout. The songs are well written, amusing and at times delightfully melodic but occasionally throw in a bit of a curve ball to keep you on your feet.
This was my introduction to Frontier Ruckus, so I intend to set aside a little time and look forward to acquainting myself with their back catalogue.
Rating 8.5/10
