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Monday, July 23, 2007
The Michigan Daily - michigandaily.com
A bit of a ruckus
A youthful blend of indie-folk picking around at the Pig
By DEREK BARBER
Daily Arts Writer
In the last few years, the Ann
Arbor area has become prime
ground for a bustling indie-folk
scene. While the resurgence of
grassroots music is indeed a bless-
ing, it has obvious drawbacks. How
do music lovers begin to dig through
the pile of banjo pickers or navigate
all the humble myspace pages in
search of the real
gems? Carefully, Frontier
that's how. Ruckus
Frontier Ruck- July 29
us, who will be 9:00 p.m.
performing at the
Blind Pig next Sun- $7 Under21/$10
day, is well worth
discovering. At the Blind Pig
On the surface, the group's blend
Heading the tolk front ... porch.
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ofacousticguitars,banjopedalsteel
and harmonica may not appear par-
ticularly unique - but listen closer.
There's something hidden deep
down within the music of Frontier
Ruckus, something akin to a petal-
opening honesty and a tenderness
that refuses to wither.
"We love our families. We love
our twilight trees. We love our mem-
ories. Salt pours out into the river,"
lead vocalist Mathew Milia sings
(or rather, declares) on "Adiron-
dack Amish Holler." Although
this is a rare moment in which the
band reaches a volume worthy of its
name, it's also just one of the many
lovely and brilliant songs from the
band's debut EP IAmthe Water You
Are Pumping.\
Milia's sentiments - a hunger
and longing for the past - reoccur
thematically in many of Ruckus's
songs. While lyrical images of flick-
ering lights from old gas stations
during the winter and the sound of
a mother's voice calling her child in
for dinnertime, may not be the same
memories of every young Ameri-
can adult, it isn't difficult to feel as
though they could be.
Milia is the kind of songwriter
who understands how fallible our
memories can be. A single grey
Michigan winter could never mean
exactly the same thing for two
people. Within the banjo harmo-
nies of songs like "Dark Autumn
Hour" the listener discovers that
even a single grey isn't really black
and white. Like the song, it is filled
with many shades of emotion and
forgetfulness.
One of Frontier Ruckus's great-
est strengths, however, is that its
members are young. Along with the
natural honesty contained within
their music, there is also promise for
something even greater yet to come.
Joining the band Sunday is the
ultra-talented, much-lauded (and
confirmed Ruckus fan) Chris Bath-
gate, as well as folk-poppers Arrah
and the Ferns and songwriter That's
Him! That's The Guy. Concertgoers
should expect a night when people
come together under one roof to not
only enjoy sincere music, but also as
a means of growing future memo-
ries - ones worth having.
MORE ONLINE
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