''Enter the Kingdom'' is the fifth full-length studio album by

Frontier Ruckus Frontier Ruckus is an American band from Michigan. The project is centered on the lyrically intensive songs of Matthew Milia, and was formed by Milia and banjo player David Winston Jones while growing up in Metro Detroit. In 2008, the band releas ...

. Recorded in

Nashville, Tennessee Nashville is the capital city of the U.S. state of Tennessee and the county seat, seat of Davidson County, Tennessee, Davidson County. With a population of 689,447 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 U.S. census, Nashville is the List of muni ...

with former Wilco and Uncle Tupelo drummer Ken Coomer, it marked the first Frontier Ruckus album produced outside of the band's home state of

Michigan Michigan () is a state in the Great Lakes region of the upper Midwestern United States. With a population of nearly 10.12 million and an area of nearly , Michigan is the 10th-largest state by population, the 11th-largest by area, and the ...

. ''

Rolling Stone ''Rolling Stone'' is an American monthly magazine that focuses on music, politics, and popular culture. It was founded in San Francisco, San Francisco, California, in 1967 by Jann Wenner, and the music critic Ralph J. Gleason. It was first kno ...

'' announced the album in late 2016 and premiered a music video for the debut single "27 Dollars."

Reception

With a more deliberate and polished production, ''Enter the Kingdom'' was met by a critical response ranging from laudatory to mixed. Thematically, the record was described in an interview with the ''

Detroit Free Press The ''Detroit Free Press'' is the largest daily newspaper in Detroit, Michigan, US. The Sunday edition is titled the ''Sunday Free Press''. It is sometimes referred to as the Freep (reflected in the paper's web address, www.freep.com). It primari ...

'' as addressing economic hardship in songwriter Matthew Milia's immediate family and the disillusionment of childhood. These heavy lyrical elements were juxtaposed with frequent

power pop Power pop (also typeset as powerpop) is a form of pop rock based on the early music of bands such as the Who, the Beatles, the Beach Boys, and the Byrds. It typically incorporates melodic hooks, vocal harmonies, an energetic performance, and ch ...

song structures and the lush string arrangements of Zachary Nichols. British art magazine Aesthetica saw the album as "a swaying invitation into the suburban American household, offering a dreamy glance back into a past forgotten life." Much notice was given to the precision of Milia's rhyme schemes, with legendary rock critic

Robert Christgau Robert Thomas Christgau ( ; born April 18, 1942) is an American music journalist and essayist. Among the most well-known and influential music critics, he began his career in the late 1960s as one of the earliest professional rock critics and ...

commenting, "Somebody marry this winsome sad sack, whose increasingly plausible rhymes now include open-ibuprofen, gauche-precocious-neurosis, salad on the tennis court-valid passport, speckled melanin-freckled up your skin, and the very sexy errands-gerunds."

Mojo Mojo may refer to: *Mojo (African-American culture), a magical charm bag used in voodoo Arts, entertainment and media Film and television * MOJO HD, an American television network * ''Mojo'' (play), by Jez Butterworth, made into a 1997 film * '' ...

went on to say, "Well-educated, literary-inclined American songwriters are hardly thin on the ground, but Frontier Ruckus' Matthew Milia's poetic inclination always sets him apart.” '' Paste'' released the upbeat single "Positively Freaking," showcasing the understated and melodic accompaniment of founding banjoist David Jones. Some fans of the rawer, more unhinged Americana from the band's earlier albums expressed disappointment in the new direction—including Uncut, who had championed the band's 2013 double-album '' Eternity of Dimming''. Contrarily,

AllMusic AllMusic (previously known as All Music Guide and AMG) is an American online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on musicians and bands. Initiated in 1991, the databas ...

commended Ken Coomer's production and commented, "There's a warmth and personality in these performances that's honest and winning...and if this batch of songs sounds a bit more artful than much of Frontier Ruckus' back catalog, "If You Can" is beautiful and striking in its simplicity, with just a guitar, Milia's voice, and the sound of rainfall bringing an evocative depth to the tune." They went on to call Frontier Ruckus one of the best things to come out of Michigan since

Faygo Faygo Beverages, Inc., is a soft drink company headquartered in Detroit, Michigan. The beverages produced by the company, branded as Faygo or Faygo Pop, are distributed in the Midwestern, Mid-Atlantic, and Central Southern regions of the United ...

Redpop. Vocalist Anna Burch joined Milia for an interview with NPR's

Michigan Radio Michigan Radio is a radio network, network of five FM broadcasting, FM public radio stations operated by the University of Michigan through its broadcasting arm, Michigan Public Media. The network is a founding member of National Public Radio and ...

detailing her signature role in the band's sound since their debut album. A video for "Our Flowers Are Still Burning" featured Burch prominently, waking in the morning following the aftermath of a party. For the subsequent European and American release tours in support of ''Enter the Kingdom'', Burch had officially returned to being the band's permanent bass player as well. In July 2017, Milia spoke with

Billboard A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertise ...

about taking time off from touring to work on a new Frontier Ruckus album, his upcoming solo album, and the music video for "Enter the Kingdom", which premiered on their site.

Track listing

All songs written by Matthew Milia, except "Since Milford" by Zachary Nichols #"Visit Me" #"Gerunds" #"27 Dollars" #"Our Flowers Are Still Burning" #"Positively Freaking" #"Sarah Springtime" #"Since Milford" #"Gauche" #"Nothing Is Working" #"If You Can" #"Enter the Kingdom"

Personnel

Frontier Ruckus *Matthew Milia –

lead vocals The lead vocalist in popular music is typically the member of a group or band whose voice is the most prominent melody in a performance where multiple voices may be heard. The lead singer sets their voice against the accompaniment parts of t ...

acoustic guitar An acoustic guitar is a musical instrument in the string family. When a string is plucked its vibration is transmitted from the bridge, resonating throughout the top of the guitar. It is also transmitted to the side and back of the instrument, ...

electric guitar An electric guitar is a guitar that requires external amplification in order to be heard at typical performance volumes, unlike a standard acoustic guitar (however combinations of the two - a semi-acoustic guitar and an electric acoustic gui ...

12-string guitar A twelve-string guitar (or 12-string guitar) is a steel-string guitar with 12 strings in six courses, which produces a thicker, more ringing tone than a standard six-string guitar. Typically, the strings of the lower four courses are tuned in o ...

baritone guitar The baritone guitar is a guitar with a longer scale length, typically a larger body, and heavier internal bracing, so it can be tuned to a lower pitch. Gretsch, Fender, Gibson, Ibanez, ESP Guitars, PRS Guitars, Music Man, Danelectro, Schec ...

pedal steel guitar The pedal steel guitar is a Console steel guitar, console-type of steel guitar with pedals and knee levers that change the pitch of certain strings to enable playing more varied and complex music than any previous steel guitar design. Like all s ...

piano The piano is a stringed keyboard instrument in which the strings are struck by wooden hammers that are coated with a softer material (modern hammers are covered with dense wool felt; some early pianos used leather). It is played using a keyboa ...

, Lowrey organ *David Winston Jones –

banjo The banjo is a stringed instrument with a thin membrane stretched over a frame or cavity to form a resonator. The membrane is typically circular, and usually made of plastic, or occasionally animal skin. Early forms of the instrument were fashi ...

, banjo-Telecaster *Zachary Nichols –

trumpet The trumpet is a brass instrument commonly used in classical and jazz ensembles. The trumpet group ranges from the piccolo trumpet—with the highest register in the brass family—to the bass trumpet, pitched one octave below the standard ...

, singing-saw, melodica, alto horn, piano, keyboards,

Optigan The Optigan (a portmanteau of Optical Organ) is an electronic keyboard instrument designed for the consumer market. The name stems from the instrument's reliance on pre-recorded optical soundtracks to reproduce sound. Later versions (built under ...

*Anna Burch – vocals Guest musicians * Ken Coomer –

drums A drum kit (also called a drum set, trap set, or simply drums) is a collection of drums, cymbals, and other Percussion instrument, auxiliary percussion instruments set up to be played by one person. The player (drummer) typically holds a pair o ...

percussion A percussion instrument is a musical instrument that is sounded by being struck or scraped by a beater including attached or enclosed beaters or rattles struck, scraped or rubbed by hand or struck against another similar instrument. Exc ...

*Connor Dodson –

bass guitar The bass guitar, electric bass or simply bass (), is the lowest-pitched member of the string family. It is a plucked string instrument similar in appearance and construction to an electric or an acoustic guitar, but with a longer neck and ...

*Kristin Weber –

violin The violin, sometimes known as a ''fiddle'', is a wooden chordophone (string instrument) in the violin family. Most violins have a hollow wooden body. It is the smallest and thus highest-pitched instrument (soprano) in the family in regular ...

*Austin Hoke –

cello The cello ( ; plural ''celli'' or ''cellos'') or violoncello ( ; ) is a Bow (music), bowed (sometimes pizzicato, plucked and occasionally col legno, hit) string instrument of the violin family. Its four strings are usually intonation (music), t ...

Production *Produced by Frontier Ruckus and Ken Coomer *Engineered by Patrick Miller *Mixed by Ken Coomer, Patrick Miller, and Frontier Ruckus *Mastered by Eric Conn at Independent Mastering *Layout and Design by Frontier Ruckus and Julia Grant *Cover concept by Matthew Milia, photographed by David Jones *Recorded and mixed at Cartoon Moon in Nashville, Tennessee summer of 2015

References

External links

Frontierruckus.com
{{DEFAULTSORT:Enter the Kingdom 2017 albums Frontier Ruckus albums Loose Music albums