The thing about Frontier Ruckus is that everything about their music is dense; their new record, Eternity Of Dimming, features over 50,000 words in the lyrics of 20 songs. Matthew Milia knows how to make words work for him. His lyrics are visceral, raw, intimate, and always the perfect word at the perfect time. What I had never noticed before last night’s show, though, is how much Frontier Ruckus uses Milia’s voice, singing all those lyrics, as a sonic texture as much as a delivery vehicle for words. The words stop being words and melt into the songs as sounds, as syllables that are as distinct as Davey Jones’ banjo playing without meaning anything.

Thursday’s show was warm, and heavy, and light, and wonderful. It was exactly what I needed, it was a balm for my heart in the middle of winter.

Full set here.