REVIEW: Frontier Myth EP

Frontier Myth are not your average dorm room foursome. Joel Pickford (vocals/guitar), David Karpay (vocals/guitar), Max Levenson (vocals/bass), and Dave Goldman (percussion) may have started out practicing in Goldman's tiny single dorm room at Goucher College, but they've come a long way since.

They're a quartet of myriad talents: dueling vocals that make ghostly allusions to the work of Dave Longstreth (Dirty Projectors), mathy guitar leads that smack of bands like Q and Not U, which both amount to distinct sound all their own.

It's tunes like "Spiders" that set a palatable, yet challenging tone for the record as we are carried into subtly complex verses and the song's rather anthemic chorus. While at first it seems like you can sing along, time signature changes and precise guitar work catch our tongues and suspend our ears. And while the lovesick lyrics do grace some familiar topics, there's no doubting the unique approach - "Did you get my message/nothing shows concern like texting/aha haha it's all such bullshit/I don't know what I'm confessing" sings guitarist Joel Pickford on "La La La". Love, while it is often present in their lyrics is reticent and skeptic, or even at times sarcastic out of some sort of desperation. Showing our true emotions can feel liberating, but often leave us, and the band, vulnerable.

Make the jump for more review, and a link to the new EP.

But that's not all they can do. While there are some overarching styles in sound, Frontier Myth know how to explore their abilities. Whether it's Pickford, Karpay, or Levenson on lead vocals (see "Roseanne's Blues"), the band usually opts for some difficult yet successful backgrounds which jump from doubling, to octaves, to counter melody. And particularly on the EP's closer "Hunt Fret", sung by Karpay, the band showcases patience in their arrangement across the board. It's a ballad of sorts, and the boys let their demanding guitar lines relax into strumming while subdued (but ever present and essential) drums from Goldman string us along for the ride.

It's stunning first outing for the band, and we can only hope that it isn't their last.

Here, for your listening pleasure and ours, is the EP:
DOWNLOAD: Frontier Myth - EP

Frontier Myth on Myspace