Rating:
Genre:
Rock
Release Date: 04/29/2008
The debut full-length by
the New Frontiers single-handedly does much to reclaim the better aspects of the term "emo" from the rafts of soundalike eyelinered mall punk bands who have watered down its usefulness as a genre description. As melancholy but oddly appealing as a middle-American version of post-
Coldplay U.K. mope-pop acts like
Keane or
Doves,
the New Frontiers' musical focus throughout
Mending is on pretty, melodic, low-key songs with just a hint of a country influence in the occasional fiddle or pedal steel part. (Think
Cursive or
Low, not
Wilco.) Singer/songwriter
Nathan Pettijohn's hushed, intimate vocals are the primary focal point of every song, bringing an engaging warmth to his fairly plain-spoken, medium-angsty lyrics. The album is front-loaded with a pair of early winners,
"Black Lungs" and
"Man Down," that bring a stronger measure of passion and kinetic energy than the rest of the album's 11 songs. But while it's a bit of a shame that the rest of the album keeps the tempos slow and the emotions at a bare simmer instead of mixing the moods a bit more, songs like
"Mirrors" and the sparse, acoustic
"Spirit and Skin" are solid enough to keep
Mending from sounding too samey.
~Stewart Mason, All Music Guide
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