9/28/12

Here is an album I have loved for a long time, since the first time I gave it a good listen. Must've been October, junior year of college. I remember driving from Syracuse to Canandaigua to stay a friend's cabin for the night where they were recording an album.

I got really lost on the dark roads in the valleys - this cabin was tucked in the hills around the lake, and I wasn't familiar with the terrain, the road names, or how prevalent deer running across country roads really are. Funny, that I learned to know those same roads pretty well just a couple years later.

But that night, that drive, got scary fast. I hate being lost and this was before I had a smartphone and its wonderful GPS navigation. Not that I would've had service anyway -- I remember trying to call my friends for help and failing to catch a signal. It was getting dark, I was already an hour late, and I was turning down road after road trying to find a main drag, when I was on this skinny stretch of pavement that turned to stone dust that turned to dirt straight into a bunch of trees.

I still remember how the leaves looked, headlights right up against the branches. It was terrifying, the solitude and the darkness. It was oddly beautiful, exhilarating.

But I had this album on, it was something I hadn't heard yet, and drives are good chance to get a full album listen in without distraction.  Not sure what to expect but feeling the need for something new, this was playing even before I started to wonder where I was. I found it awe-inspiring, it played away the anxiety and the tension in that moment of stress of human error, and somehow so much more.

So, in front of those trees, I didn't freak out (much), I didn't scream (well only once), and I took a seven-point-or-so-turn to backtrack up the dirt, up the stone dust and onto the pavement and county roads. Sure it was dark, and I didn't know where I was, but how could I not love what I was seeing, these lands stretched and molded under the bright, bright stars in the clearest navy skies you'll ever find.

Eventually I found cell service, directions, and a boy and a beer waiting for me at a cabin overlooking the heart of the lake and its western shore. Through it all I heard "Mending" two-and-a-half times through.

The atmosphere The New Frontiers bring is soothing and stilling, but the sentiment is a shade or two deeper than that. It speaks straight from the heart, without being filtered through the pretentious, ego-centric mind. So you get big thoughts and deep thoughts, but they're loving thoughts, telling the truth and surrendering to honesty. Not afraid to mention Jesus (See "Who Will Give Us Love?", a song that will truly mend your broken heart when the world's tragedy feels too much to hear anymore), but hardly preachy.

The softest harmonies you can imagine. Gentle acoustic,amplified on occasion, satisfying resolve. Reflective to the most upmost level, almost "Clarity"-like this album has become to me.

If I had to pick, "Mirrors" is probably my favorite track, because I love bells, and because it is ultimately moving, symphonic in the equal part layers of vocal and melody arrangements. The album is stunning, this song shows why.

"Mending" was the only album The New Frontiers ever released. I wonder if it was because they knew they couldn't top it. I would like to hear more, maybe, but I don't need to.

This album kept me from losing it one night, and it has a miraculous ability to do so ever since. Without even noticing, I hear a song come up on a playlist, and I relax and smile; it makes my eyes fill with tears that don't spill over and my heart feels a little lighter and I remember peace.



"This is the house where you were born,
These rooms seem smaller than before.
Turned 22 when were you found,
Shattered and broken on the ground.

They will rob you blind
They will take your peace of mind

And you'll want to run away from here.I know you can't escape from all of your fears,
I made my peace with the world and all that it brings,
Holding my own.

We saw a spark within your eyes,
Your face reflected in the light,
We are all angels in the sky,
We are all mirrors in disguise.

We will lift you up,
We will place you on your feet,
We will pick you up,
We will never let you go.

When you want to run away from here,
I found you can't escape from all of your fears.
I've made my peace with the world and all that it brings,
Holding my own."

~Mirrors
The New Frontiers, Mending

9/27/12

I thought to myself today: Why be so hard on yourself? The world will inevitably abuse you in its own, fortuitous way.

Like the trauma after a car crash and the hard roll onto the pavement, the damage is less severe if you just let it happen.

This is the kind of mood instrumental post-rock is for. The tempo changes, the layers, the crescendos that erupt in cymbals and resonate in high-pitched melodies...we glimpse into something greater when there's nothing but sound to tell the story, and god this would sound so good on real speakers right now.

9/25/12

Probably the best use of garden-variety keyboard beats I've seen ever maybe.



Also, shaker egg! Really fantastic harmonies. Easy to love, sort of makes you want to dance. But beneath all the twirling auxiliary, and those wonderful mandolin strings, there's a really lovely song, an assertive, berated yet dignified love letter. Something very 19th century about it that is refreshing, charming.

It's a well-crafted structure, in the sense it's very even and that's not something everyone can do, as it can be tough to find the right words that are also the right number of syllables and rhyme enough. Sure I love something asymmetrical, that's certainly interesting, but something this steady is simple, and simple works more often than not.

Some friends of mine played with these guys back home last night. Interesting in checking out their album...would've been so cool to see that show! Alas.

"When I was a boy of nine
I loved you with all my mind,
all my heart, all my soul,
Love me now or lose it all.

Your sister Jean and Anne Marie
say that you're in love with me.
Is there something I can't see?
Love me now or leave me be.

Down by the river on past the creek,
all me way to Widow's Peak,
proclaimed my love but you didn't speak,
love me now or hold your peace.

The baker and the butcher's wife
say you lead a lonely life,
need a man to stand beside,
love me now or stand aside.

Darling, it's so plainly true,
even I get lonely too.
When my heart is set on you,
love me now or leave me."
~Boy of Nine
Buxton, Nothing Here Seems Strange

9/23/12

Someone explain to me how it is the the 23rd of September in the year 2012. I just don't understand how fast time can move. It is beyond comprehension.

So this happened today. It's a little rough, the angle is not exceptionally flattering, but how fun it was! Something to remind me I still remember what it's like to feel creative, hence I have something to wake up in the morning for:

You should tell me if you liked it. Feedback of all types not unwelcome.

9/20/12

For whatever reason, I've been on a huge The Starting Line kick lately. Whenever they come up on the iPod, I'm like "Sure, OK, let's go with this."

Interesting to me I haven't blogged on them before? Because "Say It Like You Mean It" is such a fantastic mainstay, but ya know, I only get around to this every so often. But I've been a huge kick lately, every TSL song on shuffle has made me stop (And yes, OK, I jam out to "Island." You caught me. It's the only track of "Direction" that makes the cut, though).

This one, though, particularly I love, short and sweet as it is:


Love the beat, love the phrasing, love the concept. Straight-the-fuck-up. Love that goodbyes can be so upbeat.

It gets it all in one. Loved. Unloved. Circumstance, Inspired. And so it goes.

"Lead on,
to keep our feelings strong,
and make me still believe
our page is one and the same
Our ways will separate tonight.

You say if we were to wait.
Some things just might be changed.
I say that I dont have the strength
to fuel a burning flame.
Speak to me,
What can I say, we just live too far away.
That's a shame that love can't make you stay.
Sweet thing,
I hope that you know I'm wondering where you are.
You say this could work someday,
When you and I both know this is the end.

Leave me the way it has to be,
excuse my poor excuse.
Tell me that insecurities
are what drove me to you.
And everyday I compare your face
from sweet beginnings to your bitter end...
Sweet thing,
I hope that you know I'm wondering where you are.
You say this could work someday,
when you and I both know this is the end.
Let me let go...

Sweet thing,
I hope that you know I'm wondering where you are
You say this could work someday,
When you and I both know this is the end."
~Hello Houston

The Starting Line, Say It Like You Mean It