Remember that video of Samantha Crain’s, the one for “Santa Fe?” Matthew Milia is that wonderful male vocal you hear on that track and that bearded man you see in that video. He’s the lead singer in this Michigan based band, Frontier Ruckus. I’ve been soaking in their new album, Deadmalls & Nightfalls. It’s poetry winds and twists around to connect the tragedy of Midwestern suburban life to the beauty of all that folk music has brought us with its traditions and storytelling forms. Matthew’s vocals whine and waver in the high notes, along to the musical saw, … the harmonica, … the guitar. He sings of things and people abandoned, lost. It’s as if the economic and cultural devastation of everything around them has bled out into the music of Frontier Ruckus. But it’s a pretty, melodic, pleasantly presented music all the same. You know the minute you hear a song from this album in a mix. Like spoken word, these songs are written to a specific cadence that I can’t help but feel forms the spine around which the instrumentation rests. That in itself, is an interesting enough thing about this album. Add to that the lyrics themselves, which brilliantly tell tale after tale.

Much of Deadmalls & Nightfalls is quietly and slowly doled out, simply given to the listener with guitars, a drum kit not too harshly treated, pedal steel and saw drawing out the long notes,  and a vocal-led melody. I don’t fault them for this. It’s a strength; it’s what they’re quite good at. In the vein of Sam Amidon and other nu-folk artists, this has gone both backwards to mine for influences, and forwards to push themes and messages to what matters now. It has most definitely succeeded in this. “Nerves of the Nightmind” fuses a honky-tonk piano/banjo feel with some wonderful Caliexo feeling horns that sweep along a love song to take your breath away. “Spring Terror” has almost won me over to Country music again with it’s traditional melody and beautiful Dobro plucking in counter form. Damn, I hate when that happens. But it’s these nostalgic, weepy tales of woe that turn me every time.  I know I’ve heard something of “The Upper Room” in every good folk song of the 60s and when the horns come in so softly it’s achingly sad, just as it should be. All these songs are good. All the lyrics are provoking in thought and nuance. I couldn’t choose the “best” or the “most representative” for you, so I picked a few lines that made me know that Matthew Milia is more than just a singer in a band, and Frontier Ruckus is more than just an indie band.

From “Pontiac, The Nightbrink”
“The firmly fixtured fast food beacons do not dangle, do not weaken, neither does the heart I’m seeking in you.
Mary Lynn you wouldn’t know, for you do too have holy glow, but how am I supposed to show you… you?
Cause your voice through those holy notes marked me like a salted road, chalky white the night forbodes a coming,
Cause your thorat throttled north town boys from the Rochesters and Troys, they will also hear your noise drumming low.”

There’s more, much more to that song, that poem. The words flow out of Matthew Milia like water rushing downstream. They tumble out, far too many words for one song, all crammed in and you must listen to each song so many times to catch them all. And I did. And you will. It’s well worth it. xoxo

Pre-Order Deadmalls & Nightfalls now and you’ll get an immediate download of “Nerves of the Nevermind” (scroll down for tour dates)

Tour Dates
Jul 14 St. Louis, MO @ Old Rock House
Jul 15 Chicago, IL @ House of Blues – Back Porch
Jul 17 Ann Arbor, MI @ Blind Pig
Jul 20 Lawrence, KS @ The Bottleneck
Jul 21 Wichita, KS @ Rock Island Live
Jul 22 Denton, TX @ The Boiler Room
Jul 23 Dallas, TX @ Granada Theater
Jul 24 Lubbock, TX @ Bash Rip Rocks
Jul 25 Albuquerque, NM @ Low Spirits
Jul 31 Echo Park, CA @ Roots Roadhouse at The Echo

Aug 3 Portland, OR @ Alberta Rose Theater
Aug 5 Victor, ID @ Main Street Park
Aug 7 Englewood, CO @ Moe’s
Aug 13 Detroit, MI @ Magic Stick
Aug 20 Wellston, MI @ Hoxeyville Music Festival
Aug 21 Grand Rapids, MI @ Founders Brewing Company
Aug 27 Ontonagon, MI @ Winter Sports Complex – Porcupine Mountains Music Festival

Oct 7 Silk Hope, NC @ Shakori Hills Grass Roots Festival
Oct 8 Greenville, SC @ Downtown Greenville
Oct 21 Baton Rouge, LA @ Manship Theatre